Donough MacCarthy, 4th Earl of Clancarty

Donough was born in 1668 at Blarney, Ireland.{{Sfn|Seccombe|1893|p=[https://archive.org/details/dictionarynatio57stepgoog/page/n448/ 436, right column]|ps=: "...[Donough] was born at Blarney in 1668."}} He was the only son of Callaghan MacCarty and his wife Elizabeth Fitzgerald. His father was the 3rd Earl of Clancarty. His father's family, the MacCarthys of Muskerry descended from the kings of Desmond.{{Sfn|O'Hart|1892|p=[https://archive.org/details/irishpedigrees00unkngoog/page/n160/ 122]|ps=: "CORMAC MACCARTY MOR, Prince of Desmond (see the MacCarty Mór Stem, No. 115,) had a second son, Dermod Mór, of Muscry (now Muskerry) who was the ancestor of MacCarthy, lords of Muscry and earls of Clan Carthy."}} Donough's mother was from the FitzGerald dynasty, an Old English family. She was a daughter of George FitzGerald, 16th Earl of Kildare, and Lady Joan Boyle.{{Sfn|Lodge|1789|p=[https://archive.org/details/peerageirelando00archgoog/page/n148/ 104]|ps=: "Lady Elizabeth, first married to Callaghan, Earl of Clancarthy, who died 21 November, 1676; and secondly to Sir William Davis, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and died in July, 1698, having no issue by him, who died 24 September, 1687."}} Both parents were Protestant, but his father had originally been Catholic. His parents had married before 1641. He was an only son but had three sisters, who are listed in his father's article.

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{{Tree chart|Txt|Txt=Donough MacCarty with wife, parents, and other selected relatives.{{Efn|This family tree is based on a two graphic trees{{Sfn|Moody|Martin|Byrne|1984|p=[https://archive.org/details/newhistoryofirel0000unse_x8v5/page/156/ 156]|ps=. "MacCarthys of Muskerry ..."}}{{Sfn|Butler|1925|p=[https://archive.org/details/irishhistory0000unse/page/255/ 255, Note 8]|ps=The following rough pedigree ...}} and on written genealogies of the Earls of Clancarty,{{Sfn|Burke|1866|p=[https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalhi00burkgoog/page/n360/ 344]|ps=Genealogy of the earls of Clancarty}}{{Sfn|Cokayne|1913|pp=[https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo03coka/page/214/ 214–217]|ps=Genealogy of the earls of Clancarty}} and the MacCarthy of Muskerry family.{{Sfn|Lainé|1836|pp=[https://archive.org/details/archivesgenealog05lain/page/n229/ 74–78]|ps=Genealogy of the MacCarthy of Muskerry family}} Also see the list of children in the text.}}|boxstyle_Txt=border: 0 solid white; text-align: left;}}

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{{Tree chart| | | |DngC1|y|ElnrB| |boxstyle=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em;

|DngC1=Donough
1st Earl
Clancarty
1594–1665|boxstyle_DngC1=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em; background: lavender;

|ElnrB=Eleanor
Butler
1612–1682}}

{{Tree chart| |,|-|-|-|v|^|-|-|-|-|-|-|.| }}

{{Tree chart| Chl | |CalC3|y|ElzbF| |Justn|boxstyle=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em;

|Chl=Charles
Viscount
Muskerry
c. 1633 – 1665
d.v.p.*

|CalC3=Callaghan
3rd Earl
d. 1676|boxstyle_CalC3=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em; background: lavender;

|ElzbF=Elizabeth
FitzGerald
d. 1698

|Justn=Justin
Viscount
Mountcashel
d. 1694

|Mrg=Margaret}}

{{Tree chart| |!| | | | | |!}}

{{Tree chart|ChlC2| | | |DngC4|y|ElzSp|boxstyle=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em;

|ChlC2=Charles
2nd Earl
1663– 1666|boxstyle_ChlC2=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em; background: lavender;

|DngC4=Donough
4th Earl
1668–1734|boxstyle_DngC4=border: 2px solid red; border-radius: 0.5em; background: lavender;

|ElzSp=Elizabeth
Spencer
1671–1704}}

{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | |,|'}}

{{Tree chart| | | | | | | |RbrtM|y|ElzFy|boxstyle=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em;

|RbrtM=Robert
MacCarty
1698–1769

|ElzFy=Elizabeth
Farnelly}}

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|SbjBx=XXX|boxstyle_SbjBx=border: 2px solid red; border-radius: 0.5em; color: white;

|SbjTx=Subject of
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{{Tree chart|Txt|Txt=*d.v.p. = predeceased his father (decessit vita patris).|boxstyle_Txt=border: 0 solid white; text-align: left;}}

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MacCarty, aged eight, succeeded his father in 1676{{Sfn|Cokayne|1913|p=[https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo03coka/page/216/ 216, line 12]|ps=: "He [Callaghan] d. 21 Nov. 1676."}} as the 4th Earl of Clancarty and inherited his father's massive Irish estates in County Cork and County Kerry. Clancarty's upbringing became a matter of high policy. His mother, one of the few protestants in the family,{{Sfn|Kenyon|1958|p=[https://archive.org/details/robertspencerear0000keny/page/102/ 102, line 8]|ps=: "His mother, a fierce Protestant isolated in a Catholic family ..."}} brought him to England and placed him under the tutelage of John Fell, Bishop of Oxford, for a Protestant education. She then remarried to Sir William Davys, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.{{Sfn|Lodge|1789|p=[https://archive.org/details/peerageirelando00archgoog/page/n148/ 104]|ps=: "Lady Elizabeth, first married to Callaghan, Earl of Clancarthy, who died 21 November, 1676; and secondly to Sir William Davis, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and died in July, 1698, having no issue by him, who died 24 September, 1687."}}

However, neither his mother nor the bishop could match the influence of his uncle Justin McCarthy, Viscount Mountcashel, who was one of the closest advisers of the Duke of York, the future James II. They convinced King Charles II to provide a royal letter, countersigned by Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland,{{Sfn|Kenyon|1958|p=[https://archive.org/details/robertspencerear0000keny/page/102/ 102, line 15]|ps=: "... on 18 December 1684 Colonel Maccarty presented himself at Christ Church with a royal letter, countersigned by Sunderland, signifying the King's will and pleasure that the Clancarty should attend the Christmas festivities at Whitehall."}} then the principal Secretary of State in England, inviting Clancarty to the Palace of Whitehall for the 1684 Christmas celebrations where, with Justin's connivance, Clancarty was married to Sunderland's daughter Elizabeth Spencer (1671–1704). However, {{Harv|Burke|1866}} reports that they had married earlier on 30 October 1684.{{Sfn|Burke|1866|p=[https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalhi00burkgoog/page/n360/ 344, right column, line 36]|ps=: "His lordship m. 20 October 1684, Elizabeth, 2nd dau. of Robert Spencer, Earl of Sunderland ..."}}

They were sixteen and thirteen years old respectively. The couple soon separated and the marriage was not consummated until many years later. At that time Clancarty, his bride and his father-in-law all were Protestants. In February 1685 James II, the Catholic, succeeded to the throne. Clancarty and his father-in-law became Catholics in the summer of 1686.{{Sfn|Speck|2004|p=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_0198614012/page/886/ 887, left column, line 2]|ps=: "... that summer [1686] Sunderland swallowed the camel of conversion to Catholicism."}}

When James II landed in Kinsale on 12 March 1689, Clancarty received him in the house he owned there.{{Sfn|Seccombe|1893|p=[https://archive.org/details/dictionarynatio57stepgoog/page/n449/ 437]|ps=: "When James II landed in Kinsale in 1689, Clancarty received him in his house there ..."}} James made him a Lord of the Bed Chamber.{{Sfn|Graham|1829|p=[https://archive.org/details/irelandpreserve00ashtgoog/page/n299/ 276]|ps=: "... received and entertained him in his house and was made a lord of the bed chamber."}}

Clancarty then raised a regiment of foot for James II. During the Siege of Derry he marched his regiment up from Munster to Derry where he arrived on 28 June 1689. He then led a daring night attack against the Butchers Gate immediately on the evening of his arrival.{{Sfn|Witherow|1879|p=[https://archive.org/stream/derryandenniski01withgoog#page/n172/ 152]|ps=: "At ten o'clock on the night of his arrival, the young boy, warmed it was said with liquor as well as with valour, crossed the Bog at the head of his men, and attacked the outworks at Butcher's Gate."}} The besieged were surprised and the attackers were able to come up against the gate and touch it but were eventually thrown back.

He was taken prisoner at the Siege of Cork in 1690 and held in the Tower of London.{{Sfn|Cokayne|1913|p=[https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo03coka/page/217/ 217, line 1]|ps=: "he was taken prisoner at the Siege of Cork 1690 and confined in the Tower of London ..."}} He was outlawed and attainted in Ireland by the Williamites on 11 May 1691, forfeiting his titles and losing his estates.{{Sfn|Cokayne|1913|p=[https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo03coka/page/217/ 217, line 3]|ps=: "... his immense estates (worth at their now value £200 000 a year) having been forfeited, and he himself attainted, when all his honours became forfeited, 11 May 1691."}}

Having been detained for three years, he escaped from the Tower of London in 1694 and fled to James II's court at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.{{Sfn|Kenyon|1958|p=[https://archive.org/details/robertspencerear0000keny/page/302 302, line 13]|ps=: "The Earl of Glencarty had escaped from the Tower in 1694 and fled to St. Germain ..."}}

He returned to England in the new year 1698 and sought out his wife Elizabeth to finally begin their married life, only to be turned in to the authorities by his brother-in-law, Lord Spencer, who had been alerted by the family servants. The case raised a public furore and William III, who did not take the matter seriously, said that he had never been bothered so much over anything so trivial as the affair of "that little spark Clancarty". Months later, MacCarthy was permitted to flee to exile on the continent, accompanied by his wife.{{Sfn|Kenyon|1958|p=[https://archive.org/details/robertspencerear0000keny/page/305/ 305]|ps=: "William had agreed in March [1698] to pardon Clancarty and grant his wife a pension of £1000 a year provided they took up residence in a 'neutral' territory."}} Most of his estates were appropriated by the king's main adviser, the Dutchman Hans Willem Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland.{{Sfn|Macaulay|1898|p=[https://archive.org/details/workslordmacaul10macagoog/page/317/ 317]|ps=. "... but the greater part was bestowed by the king on Lord Woodstock, the eldest son of Portland."}}

The couple settled down in Hamburg-Altona and Lübeck.{{Sfn|Macaulay|1898|p=[https://archive.org/details/workslordmacaul10macagoog/page/318/ 319]|ps=. "He retired, accompanied by his Elizabeth, to Altona."}} In 1702 they were living in the 'Irish house' close to the Altona sawmill. The following year MacCarthy bought a small tavern near the fishing village of Blankenese on the northern shore of the Elbe estuary, and in 1706 he bought the island and seigneurie of Rottumeroog, in the Netherlands, where he lived with his libertine household until it was washed away by the Christmas flood of 1717. From then on, he spent the winters elsewhere, but returned to the island each summer until he sold it in 1731. In 1723 he acquired a tiny country house in Oudwoude in Friesland. The assertion that he bought the house from Archibald Campbell, 10th Earl of Argyll is not supported by contemporary documents. In 1729 the anti-Orangist statesman Evert Joost Lewe allowed him to live at Elmersma, a manor house in the village of Hoogkerk near Groningen, without paying rent.

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Donough and Elizabeth had three children, two sons:{{Sfn|Carafano|2004|p=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_0198613857/page/109/ 109, right column]|ps=: "They had a daughter, Charlotte, and two sons, Robert Maccarthy and Justin, before Lady Clancarty's death in 1704."}}

1. Robert (1698–1769), became a captain in the Royal Navy and commanded HMS Adventure{{Sfn|Burke|1866|p=[https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalhi00burkgoog/page/n360/ 344, right column, line 41]|ps=: "Robert, called Earl of Clancarty, captain R. N., commanded the 'Adventure', man-of-war ..."}}
2. Justin, became an officer in the Neapolitan Army{{Sfn|Burke|1866|p=[https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalhi00burkgoog/page/n360/ 344, right column, line 40]|ps=: "The younger [Justin] was an officer in the Neapolitan army ..."}}

—and a daughter:

• Charlotte, married John West, 1st Earl De La Warr{{Sfn|Burke|1866|p=[https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalhi00burkgoog/page/n360/ 344, right column, line 38]|ps=: "Charlotte m. [married] to John West, 7th Lord Delawarr ..."}}

MacCarthy was a typical adventurer, crossing the Wadden Sea on his yacht and making a living by plundering shipwrecks and gathering washed-up merchandise. The authorities disapproved of his methods and suspected him of supporting the Jacobite cause. He was commonly known to the Dutch as "de malle graaf" (the crazy earl). In 1721 he visited London and was restored to his former titles, but without getting back his estates.

A carefully orchestrated story of his successful enterprises was published in 1732. It prompted the myth told to his former countrymen that he owned a large manor near Hamburg.

He died on 1 October 1734 at the Prahlenhof near Hamburg-St. Pauli, leaving severe debts leading to a bankruptcy sale.{{Sfn|Ehrenberg|1897|p=[https://digitalisate.sub.uni-hamburg.de/de/nc/detail.html?id=1901&tx_dlf%5Bid%5D=9273&tx_dlf%5Bpage%5D=90 86]|ps=: "Vom Grafen Clancarty. In einem dunklen ärmlichen Winkel unserer Landschaft endigte 1734 ein Leben, das auf den Höhen geschichtlicher Bedeutung begonnen hatte ..."}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}

• {{Cite book|last=Burke |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Burke |date=1866 |title=A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire |edition=New |publisher=Harrison |location=London |oclc=11501348 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_K3MaAAAAYAAJ/}}
• {{Cite book|last=Butler |first=William F. T. |date=1925 |title=Gleanings from Irish History |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co. |location=London |oclc=557681240 |url=https://archive.org/details/irishhistory0000unse/}}
• {{Cite encyclopedia|last=Carafano |first=James Jay |editor1-last=Matthew |editor1-first=Colin |editor1-link=Colin Matthew |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=Brian |editor2-link=Brian Harrison (historian) |date=2004 |title=Maccarthy, Donough, styled fourth earl of Clancarty (1668–1734) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |volume=35 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |pages=108–110 |isbn=0-19-861385-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0198613857/page/108/ |url-access=registration}}
• {{Cite book|last=Cokayne |first=George Edward |author-link=George Edward Cokayne |editor-last=Gibbs |editor-first=Vicary |editor-link=Vicary Gibbs (St Albans MP) |date=1913 |title=The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant |edition=2nd |volume=III |publisher=St Catherine Press |location=London |oclc=228661424 |url=https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo03coka/}} – Canonteign to Cutts (for Clancarty)
• {{Cite book|last=Ehrenberg |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Ehrenberg |date=1897 |title=Aus der Vorzeit von Blankenese und den benachbarten Ortschaften Wedel, Deckenbuden, Nienstedten und Flottbek |publisher=Otto Meißners Verlag |location=Hamburg |language=de |oclc=457541794 |url=https://digitalisate.sub.uni-hamburg.de/de/nc/detail.html?tx_dlf%5Bid%5D=9273&tx_dlf%5Bpage%5D=1&tx_dlf%5Bpointer%5D=0}}
• {{Cite book|editor-last=Fryde |editor-first=E. B. |editor2-last=Greenway |editor2-first=D. E. |editor3-last=Porter |editor3-first=S. |editor4-last=Roy |editor4-first=I. |date=1986 |title=Handbook of British Chronology |publisher=Offices of the Royal Historical Society |edition=3rd |series=Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 |location=London |isbn=0-86193-106-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbritis0000unse/ |url-access=registration}} – (for timeline)
• {{Cite book|last=Graham |first=Rev. John |date=1829 |title=A History of the Siege of Londonderry and Defence of Enniskillen in 1688–9 |edition=2nd |publisher=William Curry |location=Dublin |oclc=19596078 |url=https://archive.org/details/ahistorysiegelo00grahgoog/}}
• {{Cite book|last=Kenyon |first=John Philipps |author-link=John Philipps Kenyon |date=1958 |title=Robert Spencer Earl of Sunderland (1641–1702) |publisher=Greenwood Press Publishers |location=Westport, Connecticut |isbn=0-8371-8150-X |url=https://archive.org/details/robertspencerear0000keny/ |url-access=registration}}
• {{Cite book|last=Lainé |first=P. Louis |date=1836 |title=Archives généalogiques et historiques de la noblesse de France |volume=Tome cinquième |trans-title=Genealogical and Historical Archives of the Nobility of France |chapter=Mac-Carthy |publisher=Imprimerie de Bethune et Plon |location=Paris |pages=1–102 |oclc=865941166 |language=fr |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/archivesgenealog05lain/page/n148/}}
• {{Cite book|last=Lodge |first=John |author-link=John Lodge (archivist) |editor-last=Archdall |editor-first=Mervyn |editor-link=Mervyn Archdall (Irish antiquary) |date=1789 |title=The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom |volume=I |publisher=James Moore |location=Dublin |oclc=264906028 |url=https://archive.org/details/peerageirelando00archgoog/}} – Blood royal, dukes, earls (for Earl of Kildare)
• {{Cite book|last=Macaulay |first=Thomas Babington |author-link=Thomas Babington Macaulay |date=1898 |title=The History of England from the Accession of James the Second |volume=VI |publisher=Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/workslordmacaul10macagoog/}} – 1695 to 1702
• {{Cite book|editor1-last=Moody |editor1-first=Theodore William |editor1-link=Theodore William Moody |editor2-last=Martin |editor2-first=F. X. |editor2-link=F. X. Martin |editor3-last=Byrne |editor3-first=Francis John |editor3-link=Francis John Byrne |date=1984 |title=A New History of Ireland |volume=IX:Maps, Genealogies, Lists |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-821745-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/newhistoryofirel0000unse_x8v5/ |url-access=registration}}
• {{Cite book|last=O'Hart |first=John |author-link=John O'Hart |date=1892 |title=Irish Pedigrees: Or, the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation |edition=5th |volume=I |publisher=James Duffy & Co. |location=Dublin |oclc=7239210 |url=https://archive.org/details/irishpedigrees00unkngoog/}} – Irish stem
• {{Cite encyclopedia|last=Seccombe |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Seccombe |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Sidney |editor-link=Sidney Lee |date=1893 |title=MacCarthy or MacCarty, Donough, fourth Earl of Clancarty |encyclopedia=Dictionary of National Biography |volume=XXXIV |publisher=Smith, Elder, & Co. |location=London |pages=436–438 |oclc=8544105 |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionarynatio57stepgoog/page/n448/}}
• {{Cite encyclopedia|last=Speck |first=William Arthur |author-link=W. A. Speck |editor1-last=Matthew |editor1-first=Colin |editor1-link=Colin Matthew |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=Brian |editor2-link=Brian Harrison (historian) |date=2004 |title=Spencer, Robert, second Earl of Sunderland |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |volume=51 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |pages=882–892 |isbn=0-19-861401-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0198614012/page/882/ |url-access=registration}}
• {{Cite book|last=Witherow |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Witherow |date=1879 |title=Derry and Enniskillen in the Year 1689 |publisher=William Mallan & Son |location=London & Belfast |oclc=82779901 |url=https://archive.org/stream/derryandenniski01withgoog/}}

{{Refend}}

{{S-start}}

{{S-reg |ie}}

{{S-bef |before=Callaghan MacCarty}}

{{S-ttl |title=Earl of Clancarty |creation=1st creation |years=1676–1691}}

{{S-non |reason=Forfeit}}

{{S-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Clancarty, Donough MacCarthy, 4th Earl of}}

Category:1668 births

Category:1734 deaths

Category:17th-century Irish nobility

Category:18th-century Irish people

Category:Earls of Clancarty

Category:Irish Jacobites

Category:MacCarthy dynasty

Category:Members of the Irish House of Lords

Category:People from County Cork

MacCarthy

Category:Wild Geese (soldiers)