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{{Short description|Anglo-Irish military officer, politician and peer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
[[File:ArthurChichesterMonumentEggesfordChurchDevon.jpg|thumb|200px| Monument to the two first wives of Arthur, 1st Earl of Donegall (1606–1674/5), [[Eggesford]] Church, [[Devon]].]]
[[File:ChichesterArmsWithCrescent.JPG|thumb|150px|Arms of Chichester of Eggesford: ''Chequy or and gules, a chief vair a crescent sable for [[Difference (heraldry)|difference]]'']]
'''Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall''' (16 June 1606 – 18 March 1675), was an Anglo-Irish military officer, politician and peer.

==Origins==
He was the eldest son and heir of the [[Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester|1st Viscount Chichester]], from [[Eggesford]], [[Devon]], by his first wife Anne Copleston, heiress of Eggesford.

==Career==
He made a career as a soldier before being elected to the [[Irish House of Commons]] as [[Member of Parliament (pre-Union Ireland)|Member of Parliament]] for [[County Antrim (Parliament of Ireland constituency)|Antrim]] in 1634 and again in 1640. Having distinguished himself in helping to put down the rebellion which took place in [[Ulster]] in 1641, Chichester was admitted to the [[Privy Council of Ireland]] in 1643. It was on the advice of [[James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde]], [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]], that in 1647 he was created '''Earl of Donegall''' in the [[Peerage of Ireland]]. The earldom was created with a special remainder to the male heirs of his father, whom he succeeded a year later as [[Viscount Chichester]] and [[Governor of Carrickfergus]] for life. He took his seat in the [[Irish House of Lords]] in 1661. In 1668 he endowed a mathematical lectureship at [[Trinity College Dublin]] with an annuity of 30 livre (pounds), which lectureship survives as an annual public lecture at the School of Mathematics in Trinity College.<ref>''[[Alumni Dublinenses]]: a register of the students, graduates, professors and provosts of [[Trinity College Dublin|Trinity College in the University of Dublin]] (1593–1860)'', ed. [[George Dames Burtchaell|Burtchaell, G. D.]], [[Thomas Ulick Sadleir|Sadlier, T. U.]] p. 149: [[Dublin]], Alex Thom and Co, 1935.</ref>

==Marriages and children==
He married three times:
*Firstly to Dorcas Hill (1607–1630), a daughter of John Hill of [[Honiley]], Warwickshire (whose arms are shown on her monument in Eggesford Church: ''Sable, six talbot hounds argent, 3,2,1''), by whom he had one daughter:<ref>Per inscription on her monument in Eggesford Church</ref>
**Mary Chichester, wife of John St Leger and mother of [[Arthur St Leger, 1st Viscount Doneraile]] (died 1727).
*Secondly to Lady Mary Digby (died 1648), daughter of [[John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol]] (whose arms are shown on her monument in Eggesford Church: ''Azure, a fleur de lys argent''), by whom he had eight children all of whom died young.
*Thirdly in 1651 he married Letitia Hicks, daughter of [[Sir William Hicks, 1st Baronet]], by whom he had surviving children one son and one daughter, four other daughters having died young:
**William Chichester (died 1660)
**Anne Chichester (died 1697) who married firstly [[John Butler, 1st Earl of Gowran]], and secondly [[Francis Aungier, 1st Earl of Longford]].

==Death and burial==
Lord Donegall died after a short illness in [[Belfast]] in 1675 and was buried in St Nicholas's Church, [[Carrickfergus]].

==Succession==
As all his sons had died young, the earldom passed under the remainder to his nephew [[Arthur Chichester, 2nd Earl of Donegall|Arthur Chichester]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{ODNBweb|id=5275|title=Chichester, Arthur|first=R. M.|last=Armstrong}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|ie}}
{{s-new|creation}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Earl of Donegall]]|years=1647–1675}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Arthur Chichester, 2nd Earl of Donegall|Arthur Chichester]]|rows=3}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester|Edward Chichester]]|rows=2}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Baron Chichester]]|creation=2nd creation|years=1648–1675}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Viscount Chichester]]|years=1648–1675}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donegall, Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of}}
[[Category:1606 births]]
[[Category:1675 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of Ireland]]
[[Category:Irish MPs 1634–1635|Chichester, Arthur]]
[[Category:Irish MPs 1639–1649|Chichester, Arthur]]
[[Category:People associated with Trinity College Dublin]]
[[Category:Chichester family|Arthur]]
[[Category:People from County Antrim]]
[[Category:Irish soldiers]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Antrim constituencies]]
[[Category:Earls of Donegall|1]]
[[Category:Peers of Ireland created by Charles I]]

Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall - Revision history

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