Lord Mark Kerr (Royal Navy officer)

Lord Mark Robert Kerr was born on 12 November 1776. He was the third son of William John Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian, by his wife, Elizabeth Fortescue. Among his siblings were William Kerr, 6th Marquess of Lothian, Lady Elizabeth Kerr (who married John Dormer, 10th Baron Dormer), Lady Mary Kerr (who married Gen. Hon. Frederick St John), and Lady Louisa Kerr (who married Arthur Atherley).

His paternal grandparents were William Kerr, 4th Marquess of Lothian and Lady Caroline D'Arcy (a daughter of the 3rd Earl of Holderness and a scion of the House of Schomberg).{{Cite book |last=Debrett |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MggNJ-zKxH8C&pg=PA500 |title=Debrett's Genealogical Peerage of Great Britain and Ireland |date=1849 |publisher=William Pickering |pages=500–501 |language=en}} His maternal grandparents were Chichester Fortescue of Dromisken, who represented Trim in the Irish House of Commons, and the Hon. Elizabeth Colley Wesley (a daughter of 1st Baron Mornington and sister of the 1st Earl of Mornington). Among his maternal family was his uncle, Thomas Fortescue, MP for Trim, Admiral Chichester Fortescue , also MP for Trim, and Gerald Fortescue, who served as Ulster King of Arms.

Kerr served as a midshipman on {{HMS|Lion|1777|6}}, Captain Sir Erasmus Gower with Lord Macartney in his visit to China in 1792–1794, where he was commissioned as a lieutenant by Gower. He was present at the capture of Minorca in 1798. Captain Kerr was appointed to {{HMS|Fisgard|1797|6}} in September 1804, and a month later he captured several Spanish ships worth more than £14,000. On 2 November 1804, Horatio Nelson, himself quite ill, wrote to Lord Melville: '...I fear Lord M Kerr is falling into the same complaint [as I have]. I have now got him to the fleet and shall keep an Eye upon him for he is too valuable an Officer and good a Man to be lost for want of care.' In April 1805, Captain Mark Kerr discovered that the French Toulon fleet, sought by Nelson, were in the Atlantic and he passed this information on to Vice-Admiral John Orde, who relayed the message to England.{{cite web |title=Lord Mark Robert Kerr |url=https://morethannelson.com/officer/lord-mark-robert-kerr/ |website=morethannelson.com |publisher=more than Nelson |access-date=30 January 2025}}

File:Hugh Douglas Hamilton - Portrait of a Lady (probably Lady Charlotte McDonnell, 3rd Countess of Antrim in 1790s).jpg), by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, 1790s]]

On 18 July 1799, Lord Mark Robert Kerr married Lady Charlotte MacDonnell (1778–1835), third daughter of Randal William Macdonnell, 6th Earl, and 1st Marquess of Antrim; she succeeded him as Countess of Antrim (creation of 1785) suo jure (in her own right) on the death of her elder sister.Mrs E. M. Fullerton, "Ker, Marquess of Lothian" in The Scots Peerage, ed. Sir James Balfour Paul, vol. V (Edinburgh, 1908) [https://archive.org/stream/scotspeeragefoun05paul#page/482/mode/2up pp. 482–3]. They had a large family, fifteen children in total, of which their surviving children included:{{cite book |last1=Cokayne |first1=George Edward |title=The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom: Ab-Adam to Basing |date=1910 |publisher=St. Catherine Press, Limited |page=178 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Complete_Peerage_of_England_Scotland/59LEhK2703MC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA178 |access-date=30 January 2025 |language=en}}

• Lady Letitia Louisa Kerr (1800–1885), who married, as his second wife, Capt. Cortlandt George MacGregor Skinner of Carisbrooke House, Isle of Wight, a grandson of Gen. Cortlandt Skinner, in 1871.{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=William Northey |title=The History of St. Peter's Church in Perth Amboy, New Jersey: The Oldest Congregation of the Church in the State of New Jersey, from Its Organization in 1698 to the Year of Our Lord 1923, and the Celebration of the 225th Anniversary of the Parish, Also a Genealogy of the Families Buried in the Churchyard |date=1924 |publisher=Patterson Press |page=465 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_History_of_St_Peter_s_Church_in_Pert/5KbVAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA465 |access-date=30 January 2025 |language=en}}
• Lady Georgina Anne Emily Kerr (1807–1881),{{cite web |title=Lady Georgina Anne Emily Bertie (née Kerr) |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp100463/lady-georgina-anne-emily-bertie-nee-kerr |website=www.npg.org.uk |publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London |access-date=30 January 2025 |language=en}} who married the Rev. Hon. Frederic Bertie,{{cite web |title=Frederick Bertie |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp98357/frederick-bertie |website=www.npg.org.uk |publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London |access-date=30 January 2025 |language=en}} son of the Willoughby Bertie, 4th Earl of Abingdon and Charlotte Anne Emily Warren (a daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Warren), in 1825.{{cite book |title=Debrett's Illustrated Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |date=1862 |page=403 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Debrett_s_Illustrated_Peerage_of_the_Uni/RdoNAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA403 |access-date=30 January 2025 |language=en}}
• Lady Caroline Mary Kerr (1807–1869), who married the Rev. Horace Robert Pechell, son of Augustus Pechell (a son of Sir Paul Pechell, 1st Baronet) and Sarah Drake (a daughter of Rev. Thomas Drake), in 1826.{{cite book |title=The New England Historical and Genealogical Register |date=1901 |publisher=New England Historic Genealogical Society |page=47 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_New_England_Historical_and_Genealogi/UaHOdnwrZB0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR47 |access-date=30 January 2025 |language=en}}
• Charles Fortescue Kerr (1810–1834), styled Viscount Dunluce, who died unmarried at Holmwood.
• Lady Charlotte Kerr (1811–1866), who married Sir George Osborn, 6th Baronet, son of Sir John Osborn, 5th Baronet and Augusta Frederica Louisa Valentina Davers (the illegitimate daughter of Sir Charles Davers, 6th Baronet), in 1835.{{cite book |title=Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage: Comprising Information Concerning All Persons Bearing Hereditary Or Courtesy Titles, Knights, and Companions of All the Various Orders, and the Collateral Branches of All Peers and Baronets |date=1902 |publisher=Dean & Son, Limited |page=451 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Debrett_s_Peerage_Baronetage_Knightage_a/cLc7AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=RA1-PA451 |access-date=30 January 2025 |language=en}}
• Hugh Seymour McDonnell, 4th Earl of Antrim (1812–1855), who married Lady Laura Cecilia Parker, a daughter of Thomas Parker, 5th Earl of Macclesfield and, his second wife, Eliza Wolstenholme (the daughter of William Breton Wolstenholme), in 1836.Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999, volume 1, page 91.
• Mark McDonnell, 5th Earl of Antrim (1814–1869), a Captain who married Jane Emma Hannah Macan, daughter of Maj. Turner Macan and Harriet Sneyd (a daughter of Rev. Wettenhall Sneyd), in 1849.{{cite book |last1=Cokayne |first1=George Edward |title=Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, Or Dormant |date=1887 |publisher=G. Bell & sons |page=110 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Complete_Peerage_of_England_Scotland_Ire/27EKAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA110 |access-date=30 January 2025 |language=en}}
• Lady Frederica Augusta Kerr ({{circa|1816}}–1864), who married Montagu Bertie, 5th Earl of Abingdon, son of Willoughby Bertie, 4th Earl of Abingdon and Charlotte Anne Emily Warren (a daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Warren), in 1841.{{cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=James E. |title=The Official Baronage of England showing the succession, dignities, and offices of every Peer from 1066 to 1885 with 1600 illustrations |date=1886 |publisher=Longmans, Green and Company |page=13 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_official_baronage_of_England_showing/iktllA1ggs0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA13 |access-date=30 January 2025 |language=en}}
• Lady Emily Frances Kerr (1818–1874), who married Henry Richardson, of Somerset, County Londonderry, in 1839.{{cite book |last1=Walford |first1=Edward |title=The County Families of the United Kingdom: Or, Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland : Containing a Brief Notice of the Descent, Birth, Marriage, Education, and Appointments of Each Person, His Heir Apparent Or Presumptive, as Also a Record of the Offices which He Has Hitherto Held, Together with His Town Address and Country Residence |date=1871 |publisher=Robert Hardwicke |page=828 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_County_Families_of_the_United_Kingdo/7dLPG9S1nzsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA828 |access-date=30 January 2025 |language=en}} After his death in 1849, she married barrister Sir Steuart Macnaghten, son of Sir Francis Workman-Macnaghten, 1st Baronet and Letitia Dunkin (a daughter of Sir William Dunkin), in 1864.{{cite book |title=Debrett's Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage: In which is Included Much Information Respecting the Collateral Brances of Baronets, and the Issue of Knights |date=1921 |publisher=Dean & Son |page=472 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Debrett_s_Baronetage_Knightage_and_Compa/430rhznNVhoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA472 |access-date=30 January 2025 |language=en}}
• Hon. Arthur Schomberg Kerr (1820–1850), who married Agnes Steuart Frankland, daughter of J. H. Frankland, of Eashing Park, Godalming, Surrey, in 1846.{{cite book |last1=Walford |first1=Edward |title=The Windsor Peerage for 1890-1894 |date=1893 |page=18 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Windsor_Peerage_for_1890_1894/ick-AAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA18 |access-date=30 January 2025 |language=en}}

Upon the death of his wife in 1835, their eldest surviving son, Hugh, succeeded to his mother's earldom as the 4th Earl of Antrim. Lord Mark Kerr died on 9 September 1840 at his residence in Henrietta Street, Cavendish Square, London.

Through his daughter Lady Caroline, he was a grandfather of Admiral Mark Robert Pechell.

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG33690 Mark Robert Kerr] at The British Museum
• [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D66015 Will of The Right Honorable Mark Robert Kerr Commonly called Lord Mark Kerr, Rear...] at The National Archives (United Kingdom)

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Category:1776 births

Category:1840 deaths

Mark

Category:Younger sons of marquesses

Category:Royal Navy vice admirals

Category:Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars