The Hon. Hector John McDonnell (born 1947) is a Northern Irish painter, etcher, and author, specializing in architectural art, landscape, and portrait work.
A younger son of Randal McDonnell, 8th Earl of Antrim, by his marriage to the sculptor Angela Sykes, and the younger brother of Alexander McDonnell, Hector McDonnell was born in Belfast. He grew up on the family estate at Glenarm, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he read modern history. [1] [2] In 1965 and 1966, before going up to Oxford, he studied painting in Munich and Vienna. [3]
McDonnell lives and works in Northern Ireland and New York, but maintains close links with Germany. In 1979, he was the winner of the Darmstädter Kunstpreis and held a Retrospective Exhibition at the Matildenhöhe, Darmstadt, in 1981. [3] His first book, The Ould Orange Flute, was published in 1983. [4] A further Retrospective Exhibition was at the Ulster Museum, Belfast, from 2003 to 2004. [3] The Belfast Telegraph has described McDonnell as "one of Ireland's greatest living artists". [5]
In 1969 McDonell married Catherine Elizabeth, a daughter of Ronald Chapman, and had a daughter, born in 1971, and a son born the next year, before they divorced in 1974. He also has a daughter by Wendy Lindbergh, born in 2000. In 2019 he was living at the Old Rectory, Glenarm. [6]
McDonnell is an uncle of the Earl of Antrim and the artist Lady Flora McDonnell. [6]
County Antrim is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 3,086 square kilometres (1,192 sq mi) and has a population of 651,321, as of the 2021 census. County Antrim has a population density of 211 people per square kilometre or 546 people per square mile. It is also one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland.
Earl of Antrim is a title that has been created twice, both times in the Peerage of Ireland and both times for members of the MacDonnell family, originally of Scottish origins.
Thomas Moles was a journalist and Ulster Unionist politician.
Ballymoney is a town and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area. The civil parish of Ballymoney is situated in the historic baronies of Dunluce Upper and Kilconway in County Antrim, as well as the barony of North East Liberties of Coleraine in County Londonderry. It had a population of 11,048 people at the 2021 Census.
Glenarm is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies on the North Channel coast north of the town of Larne and the village of Ballygalley, and south of the village of Carnlough. It is situated in the civil parish of Tickmacrevan and the historic barony of Glenarm Lower. It is part of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and had a population of 568 people in the 2011 Census. Glenarm takes its name from the glen in which it lies, the southernmost of the nine Glens of Antrim.
Belfast Castle is a mansion located in Cave Hill Country Park in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in a prominent position 400 feet (120 m) above sea level. Its location provides unobstructed views over the City of Belfast and Belfast Lough. There have been several different structures called 'Belfast Castle' over the centuries, located on different sites. The current 'castle' is a Victorian structure, built between 1867 and 1870 on the slopes of Cave Hill, and is listed as being Grade B+. The main entrance into the Belfast Castle Demesne is now where Innisfayle Park meets Downview Park West, just off the Antrim Road. The original main entrance into the current demesne was formerly on the Antrim Road itself, where Strathmore Park now meets the Antrim Road.
Randall MacSorley MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim, PC (Ire), rebelled together with Tyrone and Tyrconnell in the Nine Years' War but having succeeded his brother, Sir James mac Sorley MacDonnell, as Lord of the Route and the Glynns in 1601, he submitted to Mountjoy, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, in 1602.
James Stewart Alexander Simmons (1933–2001) was a poet, literary critic and songwriter from Derry, Northern Ireland.
Alexander Randal Mark McDonnell, 9th Earl of Antrim,, known as Alexander Dunluce, was a landowner, peer, artist, and art restorer.
John Harold Hewitt was perhaps the most significant Belfast poet to emerge before the 1960s generation of Northern Irish poets that included Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon and Michael Longley. He was appointed the first writer-in-residence at Queen's University Belfast in 1976. His collections include The Day of the Corncrake (1969) and Out of My Time: Poems 1969 to 1974 (1974). He was also made a Freeman of the City of Belfast in 1983, and was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Ulster and Queen's University Belfast.
Glenarm Castle, Glenarm, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, is the ancestral home of the Earl of Antrim.
Down Orange Welfare was an Ulster loyalist paramilitary vigilante group active in Northern Ireland during the 1970s. Operating in rural areas of County Down, the group faded after failing to win support away from larger groups such as the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
The Orange Volunteers (OV) was a loyalist vigilante group with a paramilitary structure active in Northern Ireland during the early 1970s. It took its name from the Orange Order, from which it drew the bulk of its membership.
Randal John Somerled McDonnell, 8th Earl of Antrim KBE (1911–1977) was a diplomat, activist, soldier and administrator. He became chairman of the National Trust in 1965.
Angela Christina MacDonnell, Countess of Antrim, also known as Angela Antrim, was Countess of Antrim, a sculptor, a cartoonist, and an illustrator.
Terence Philip FlanaganPPRUA HRUA RHAMBE was a landscape painter and teacher from Northern Ireland.
Cherith McKinstry was an Irish painter and sculptor.
William Robert Gordon HRUA was an influential Northern Irish landscape and portrait painter, and an educator. He was a founding member of the Ulster Arts Club and the Ulster Literary Theatre.
Ballymoney Town Hall is a municipal structure in the High Street, Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The structure, which incorporates a local history museum, is a Grade B1 listed building.
Randal Alexander McDonnell, 10th Earl of Antrim DL, 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.