Edward O'Brien, 14th Baron Inchiquin

Edward Donough O'Brien, 14th Baron Inchiquin KP (14 May 1839 – 9 April 1900) was the holder of a hereditary peerage in the Peerage of Ireland, as well as Chief of the Name of O'Brien and Prince of Thomond in the Gaelic Irish nobility. In 1862, he was appointed High Sheriff of Clare.^[1]

Edward Donough O'Brien, 14th Baron Inchiquin, 1865

Emily Holmes-á Court, first wife of Edward O'Brien, 14th Baron Inchiquin.

Family and background

He was born the eldest son of Lucius O'Brien, 13th Baron Inchiquin and Mary Fitzgerald. He graduated MA in 1860 from Trinity College, Cambridge where where his uncle, the Rev. Arthur Martineau (1806-1872) had been a Fellow.^[2][3]

He took the title in March 1872, upon the death of his father, and was appointed a Knight of the Order of St. Patrick on 5 August 1892. On 26 April 1882 he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 7th Brigade, South Irish Division, Royal Artillery (the Clare Militia), which he held until his death.^[1][4] He married firstly Emily Holmes-á Court, the daughter of William Holmes-á Court, 2nd Baron Heytesbury, and together they had four children:^[1]

• Geraldine Mary O'Brien, MBE, (1863–?) married twice
• Lucius William O'Brien, 15th Baron Inchiquin (1864–1929)
• Lt.-Col. Murrough O'Brien, DSO, (1866–1934), Northumberland Fusiliers
• Lt Edward Donough O'Brien (1867–1943), 7th Brigade, South Irish Division, RA

He then married Ellen Harriet, the daughter of Luke White, 2nd Baron Annaly, with whom he had a further ten children:^[1]

• Clare O'Brien (1875–1950), married in 1904 Brig-Gen Noel Armar Lowry-Corry, DSO, great-grandson of Somerset Lowry-Corry, 2nd Earl Belmore and son of Mr and Mrs Armar Henry Lowry Corry (1836-1893) of Forest Lodge, Windsor Forest where Noel and his wife were living in 1914.^[5][6][7]
• Moira O'Brien (1876–?) married twice
• Eileen O'Brien (1877–?)
• Maud O'Brien (1878–?)
• Donough O'Brien (1879–?) Barrister-at-Law
• Beatrice O'Brien (1882–?), married Marquess Guglielmo Marconi, the radio pioneer and Nobel Prize winner.^[8]
• Lilah O'Brien (1884–?) married twice
• Capt Henry Barnaby O'Brien, MC (1887–?)
• Doreen O'Brien (1888–?)
• Lt Desmond O'Brien, Royal Flying Corps (born 1895, killed in action 1915)