Robert William Hugh O'Neill, 1st Baron Rathcavan PC (8 June 1883 - 28 November 1982), known as Sir Hugh O'Neill, Bt, from 1929 to 1953, was an Ulster Unionist member of both the UK Parliament and the Parliament of Northern Ireland.
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O'Neill was the third son of Edward O'Neill, 2nd Baron O'Neill, and the uncle of Lord O'Neill of the Maine, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. He was educated at Eton and New College, Oxford, he was subsequently called to the Bar at Inner Temple. He served as a Major in the British Army.
Although O'Neill contested the constituency of Stockport in 1906, he was first elected to the Westminster Parliament for Mid-Antrim in 1915, he later represented Antrim and then North Antrim. From 1939-1940 he was Under-Secretary of State for India and Burma.
O'Neill was also elected to represent Antrim in the Northern Ireland House of Commons in 1921 and served as its first Speaker, before standing down from his seat in 1929. The latter year he was created a Baronet, of Cleggan in the County of Antrim. In 1934, he was appointed High Sheriff of Antrim.[1]
From 1933 to 1939, O'Neill was the Chairman of the 1922 Committee. He also sat on the Privy Council of Ireland, its successor, the Privy Council of Northern Ireland and the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. From 1939 to 1940, he was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for India and Burma, and was the Lord Lieutenant of Antrim from 1949 to 1959.
O'Neill retired from the Westminster Parliament in 1952, having become the Father of the House the previous year, and was raised to the peerage as Baron Rathcavan, of The Braid in the County of Antrim, in 1953.
Lord Rathcavan died in 1982 at the age of 99 and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Phelim.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Arthur Edward Bruce O'Neill |
Member of Parliament for Mid Antrim 1915 – 1922 |
Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for Antrim 1922 – 1950 |
Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for North Antrim 1950 – 1952 |
Succeeded by Phelim O'Neill |
| Preceded by Edward Turnour |
Father of the House 1951 – 1952 |
Succeeded by David Grenfell |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by New position |
Speaker of the Northern Ireland House of Commons 1921 – 1929 |
Succeeded by Harry Mulholland |
| Preceded by Anthony Muirhead |
Under-Secretary of State for India and Burma 1939 – 1940 |
Succeeded by Duke of Devonshire |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by James Graham Leslie |
Lord Lieutenant of Antrim 1949 – 1959 |
Succeeded by Sir Richard Dobbs |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by New Creation |
Baron Rathcavan 1953 – 1982 |
Succeeded by Phelim Robert Hugh O'Neill |
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