Earl of Clare - Earls of Clare, Third Creation (1795)

Earls of Clare, Third Creation (1795)

The title was again created, in the Peerage of Ireland, in 1795 for John FitzGibbon, 1st Viscount FitzGibbon, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He had already been created Baron FitzGibbon, of Lower Connello in the County of Limerick, in 1789, and Viscount FitzGibbon, of Limerick in the County of Limerick, in 1793. These titles were also in the Peerage of Ireland. In 1799 he was made Baron FitzGibbon, of Sidbury in the County of Devon, in the Peerage of Great Britain. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Earl. He served as Governor of Bombay from 1830 to 1834. He died childless and was succeeded by his younger brother, the third Earl. He represented County Limerick in the House of Commons and served as Lord Lieutenant of County Limerick. Lord Clare's only son, the Hon. John Charles Henry Fitzgibbon, had been married in a clandestine ceremony in 1854 but this marriage was not recognized. He was killed in action during the Battle of Balaclava where he charged with the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars the following year. On Lord Clare's death in 1864 the peerages became extinct as William John Gerald FitzGibbon (posthumous son of the Hon. John Charles Henry Fitzgibbon) was not allowed to inherit the titles.