John Crichton, 3rd Earl Erne


John Crichton, 3rd Earl Erne, KP, was an Anglo-Irish peer and politician.

Early life

He was the eldest son of Lt.-Col. Hon. John Creighton, Governor of Hurst Castle and the former Jane Weldon. His siblings included Maj. Hon. Henry Crichton, Lt.-Col. Hon. Samuel Crichton, Jane Anne Crichton, Lady Catherine Crichton, Lady Helen Crichton, Lady Charlotte Crichton, Lady Mary Crichton.
His paternal grandfather was John Creighton, 1st Earl Erne and the former Catherine Howard.

Career

In 1842, he succeeded to the earldom of Erne upon the death of his uncle, the 2nd Earl Erne. His uncle Abraham had been an MP for Lifford from 1790 to 1797 before he was declared insane in November 1798 and then incarcerated at Brooke House, London, for the next forty years. Abraham had succeeded to the titles upon the death of his father in September 1828. The third earl subsequently changed the spelling of the family name to Crichton.
In 1845 he was elected an Irish Representative Peer in the House of Lords, which he remained until his death. He also served as Lord Lieutenant of County Fermanagh from 1845 to 1885. Erne was made a Knight of the Order of St Patrick in 1868 and in 1876 he was created Baron Fermanagh, of Lisnaskea in the County of Fermanagh, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. This title gave him and his descendants an automatic seat in the House of Lords.
Lord Erne is also remembered as the employer of the hapless Captain Charles Boycott, whose mishandling of relations with agricultural workers on Lord Erne's estate in County Mayo caused a political and public order crisis and provoked the strategy that gave the English language the term to boycott.

Personal life

On 6 July 1837, Lord Erne was married to Selina Griselda Beresford, the second daughter of The Rev. Charles Cobbe Beresford, Rector of Termonmaguirk, and Amelia Montgomery. Together, they were the parents of:
Lord Erne died in October 1885, aged 83, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son John, who became a Conservative government minister.