Rose MacDonnell of Antrim

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Rose MacDonnell, was the granddaughter of Sorley Boy MacDonnell, and was born at Dunluce Castle, County Antrim, about 1619.

Her brother, Randal MacDonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim, married Lady Katherine Villiers (née Manners) in 1635. Katherine was reputed to be the richest woman in Britain, and her money enabled the MacDonnells to restore Dunluce Castle between 1636-39.

In 1643 Rose MacDonnell married the Hon. George Gordon, younger brother of John Gordon, 14th Earl of Sutherland.

Following the Irish Rebellion of 1641 the couple moved to the safety of Dunrobin Castle in the Sutherland Highlands - the Scottish seat of the Gordon family.

Lady Rose, who was probably painted by Cornelis van Ceulen Janssens in 1636, had two surviving children and died in Belfast in 1683. Her portrait, recently identified under the title "Rose McDonnel of Waterford", has hung in a country house outside Colchester since 1965.

The Earls of Antrim resided in the Waterford area from 1641 until 1745, when they re-established the family seat in Glenarm in County Antrim.

Katherine Villiers, Rose's sister-in-law, died in Waterford in 1649.