Richard MacDonnell (scholar)

The Rev. Dr Richard MacDonnell LL.D., D.D., S.F.T.C.D. (1787–1867) was the reformist 29th provost of Trinity College, Dublin and the projector of Sorrento Terrace, Dalkey.

Family

Richard MacDonnell, of the Tynekill MacDonnells of Leinster, was the son of Robert MacDonnell (1764–1821) of High Park, nr Douglas, Co. Cork, and Susanna Nugent (1766–1836) of Ardmore, Co. Waterford, of the Cloncoskraine Nugents in the same county. For the most part of his life, his father had been a prosperous man. He had been given a lucrative revenue appointment at Cork by a close friend of his own father's - George Lowther M.P., of Kilrue - and had contemplated an early retirement on his substantial properties. However, following the overthrow of Napoleon, property prices fell dramatically and he, like many others, died an impoverished and disappointed man.

In 1810, Richard MacDonnell married Jane Graves, daughter of The Very Rev. Richard Graves. They were the parents of fourteen children, including Richard Graves MacDonnell . He was also the uncle and guardian of Edmund Allen Meredith, who later served as principal of McGill University in Montreal.

Trinity College, Dublin

Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (1800–1805), elected a scholar in 1803. In 1808 he took a lay Fellowship at Trinity which allowed him to practise at the Irish bar. He was awarded his LL.D. in 1813 but gave up a legal career in favor of taking holy orders the same year. The remainder of his career was spent at Trinity College, Dublin as a Senior Fellow of the College, Professor of Oratory (1816–1820), Professor of Mathematics (1820–1836) and 'an efficient' Bursar (1836–1844), bringing the accounts of the collegiate estates into satisfactory order. In 1852, George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon elected him the 29th Provost of the College, moving into Provost's House, Trinity College, Dublin. He held the position for fifteen years until his death in 1867..

He was one of the very few, who from a very early date, advocated Catholic Emancipation, at a time when such views were very unpopular within Trinity. His broad vision and liberal views encompassed both politics and education, far more so than his contemporaries, and the significant changes he brought about are testament to his firmness of character. His period of office is remarkable for the number of new statutes brought in, despite the prejudice he encountered, which almost revolutionized the college code of laws, giving Trinity 'a fresh impetus in its career and usefulness' . Another source described him as 'clever but very lazy' .

MacDonnell was said to have had 'an excellent dry sense of humor', demonstrated on one occasion when showing a lady around the impressive Trinity College Library, Dublin. She, clasping her hands together, exclaimed, 'Oh Mr. Provost, pray Mr. Provost, have you read all these books?', to which he replied, 'in time my dear lady, in time'. On another occasion, after the plates had been cleared between the courses of a dinner party he was hosting, his butler quietly placed a sugar cube on his bald head. As he gravely spoke to his guests on a most pressing political or intellectual subject, his parrot would by then have flown into the dining room and seated itself on the Provost's head, eating the sugar cube, as he continued, completely unfazed, with his serious musings.

Sorrento Terrace, Dalkey

MacDonnell had inherited Knocklyon House near Dalkey, but after his mother died there the previous year, in 1837 he leased it out and bought a plot of land by the sea front at Dalkey, where he built a new country retreat, Sorrento Cottage, now owned by The Edge of the Irish rock band U2. Named after Sorrento on the Bay of Naples, the allure of its situation is the breathtaking view across Killiney Bay to the Wicklow Mountains, the Great Sugar Loaf taking the place of Mount Vesuvius.

MacDonnell devised a plan for the construction of 22 houses right into the corner near the boundaries of the cottage, a huge undertaking at the time and one that never came to fruition due to the Irish Potatoe Famine, the family deciding to help those around them rather than themselves. In 1845 the family built the first and largest of the terrace residences, 'Sorrento House', and then MacDonnell leased the rest of the land to his son, Hercules Henry Graves MacDonnell, who built the remaining seven houses at a price of £1,000 each. The last house on what is now known as Sorrento Terrace was not completed until about 1874. The family stipulated that each house had to adhere strictly to the design of architects Frederick Darley and Nathaniel Montgomery. The houses today are known as 'millionaire's row', famous for being the most expensive row of houses in Ireland.