Arms of the Earl of Antrim

Randal Alexander McDonnell, 10th Earl of Antrim DL (born 2 July 1967), previously known as Viscount Dunluce, is a Northern Irish landowner, with an estate based at Glenarm Castle, and a City of London businessman, chairman of Sarasin & Partners LLP. He is also a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of County Antrim.

Life

The only son of Alexander McDonnell, 9th Earl of Antrim,[1] and a grandson of the sculptor Angela Sykes,[2] the present Lord Antrim was educated at Gresham's School and Worcester College, Oxford,[3][4] where he graduated in Modern History.[5] He is the brother of Lady Flora McDonnell and a nephew of the artist Hector McDonnell.[3][6]

After Oxford, Dunluce, as he then was, embarked on a career in asset management in the City of London. In 1992, when he was twenty-five, his father put him in charge of the Glenarm Castle estate, and in that role he invested in Glenarm Shorthorn Beef, Glenarm Organic Salmon and hydroelectric power.[5] Glenarm Castle was first built in 1603 by Antrim’s ancestor Randal MacSorley MacDonnell.[7][8]

He was an investment manager at NCL Investments from 1993 to 1997. In 1998 he began to work at Sarasin & Partners LLP, where he has been chairman since 2008,[4][9] taking responsibility for the investment mandates of the firm’s largest customers and its charitable endowments. He managed the creation of the Sarrasin presence in Dublin and is also a non-executive director of Aberdeen Standard Asia Focus PLC.[10] In 2002, he was a member of three London clubs, the Savile, the Turf, and the Beefsteak.[11]

As Lord Dunluce, Antrim married Aurora Gunn in 2004.[4] They have a son (born 2006) and a daughter (born 2008), both at school in England.[5] Lady Antrim is a documentary filmmaker and member of the board of the Royal Parks.[12]

In December 2013, as Dunluce, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for County Antrim.[13] [14]

When his father died on 21 July 2021, Antrim inherited his peerages and estates.[2]

In November 2021, Antrim, Edwin Poots, and local children planted the first trees of 350 hectares of new native woodland on Antrim’s estate at Glenarm Forest. Poots, who was then Northern Ireland's Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, announced this as Northern Ireland's first Queen's Commonwealth Canopy forest conservation project.[15]

Notes

  1. ^ Peter W. Hammond, ed., The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda (Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1998), page 31
  2. ^ a b Marie Louise McConville, Earl of Antrim's funeral to take place in Glenarm next week, The Irish News, 6 August 2021, accessed 3 July 2022
  3. ^ a b Burke's Peerage, vol. 1 (1999), p. 90
  4. ^ a b c "DUNLUCE, Viscount" in Lucy Hume, ed., Debrett's People of Today (London: Debrett's, 2017), p. 1882
  5. ^ a b c The Earl of Antrim, highcouncilofclandonald.com, accessed 3 July 2022
  6. ^ Pamela Ballantine, "Pam's People: Artist Hector McDonnell sees big picture", Belfast Telegraph, April 12 2015, accessed 3 July 2022
  7. ^ Richard Pococke, John McVeagh, Richard Pococke's Irish Tours (Irish Academic Press, 1995), p. 212
  8. ^ Mark Bence-Jones, Burke's Guide to Country Houses: Volume I, Ireland (1978), p. 135
  9. ^ The Waterlow Stock Exchange Yearbook: Incorporating Crawfords Directory (London: Waterlow Professional Publishing, 1 April 2009, ISBN 978-1857830897), p. 1/17
  10. ^ "Randal Dunluce", Spear's Wealth Management Survey, accessed 15 September 2023
  11. ^ "DUNLUCE , Viscount Randal Alexander St John McDonnell" in Sara Foster, Zoe Gullen, eds., Debrett's People of Today (London: Debrett's, 2002), p. 568
  12. ^ "New Members appointed to the board of The Royal Parks", Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, accessed 28 July 2022
  13. ^ Susan Morris, Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage 2019 (2020), p. 1553
  14. ^ Deputy Lieutenant Commissions, The Belfast Gazette, 31 January 2014, Notice ID: B-7586-1
  15. ^ Kathleen O'Sullivan, "Glenarm Forest is NI’s first accredited QCC forest conservation project", agriland.co.uk, 9 November 2021, accessed 3 July 2022
Peerage of Ireland Preceded byAlexander McDonnell Earl of Antrim 2021– Incumbent


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