| The Right Honourable The Earl of Donoughmore KP, PC |
|
|---|---|
| Under-Secretary of State for War | |
| In office 12 October 1903 – 4 December 1905 |
|
| Monarch | Edward VII |
| Prime Minister | Arthur Balfour |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Hardwicke |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Portsmouth |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 2 March 1875 |
| Died | 19 October 1948 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Elena Maria Grace (d. 1944) |
Richard Walter Hely-Hutchinson, 6th Earl of Donoughmore KP, PC (2 March 1875 – 19 October 1948), styled Viscount Suirdale until 1900, was an Irish peer and Conservative politician. He served as Under-Secretary of State for War under Arthur Balfour between 1903 and 1905.
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Donoughmore was the son of John Hely-Hutchinson, 5th Earl of Donoughmore, and Frances Isabella Stephens, daughter of General William Frazer Stephens. He was educated at Eton.
Donoughmore succeeded his father in the earldom in 1900 and took his seat in the House of Lords. He served as Under-Secretary of State for War from 1903 to 1905 in the Unionist administration headed by Arthur Balfour. From 1911 he was Lord Chairman of Committees of the House of Lords. He was elected Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1913, a post he held until his death.[1] In 1916 he was part of the Mesopotamia Commission of Inquiry[2]. He was made a Knight of the Order of St Patrick in 1916[3] and sworn of the Privy Council in 1918.[4]
In 1921 Lord Donoughmore was elected one of the fifteen Peers of the Realm resident in the South (elected by a constituency of all Southern Ireland peers) to be a member of the Senate of Southern Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The Senate convened in 1921 but was boycotted by Irish nationalists. Donoughmore did not attend its first meeting. In 1929 he chaired the Committee on Ministers' Powers following Viscount Hewart's controversial book, The New Despotism, in which Hewart claimed that the rule of law in Britain was being undermined by the legislature. The book was very controversial and led to the Committee. The Report rejected Hewart's arguments.
Lord Donoughmore married Elena Maria Grace, daughter of Michael P. Grace, on 21 December 1901. She died on 22 February 1944. Lord Donoughmore died in October 1948, aged 73, and was succeeded in the earldom by his son, John.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Earl of Hardwicke |
Under-Secretary of State for War 1903 – 1905 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Portsmouth |
| Masonic offices | ||
| Preceded by The Duke of Abercorn |
Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Ireland 1913 – 1948 |
Succeeded by Raymond Fredrick Brooke |
| Peerage of Ireland | ||
| Preceded by John Hely-Hutchinson |
Earl of Donoughmore 1900 – 1948 |
Succeeded by John Hely-Hutchinson |