John Crichton, 3rd Earl Erne

Who was John Crichton, 3rd Earl Erne?

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

Lord Erne succeeded his uncle as third Earl Erne in 1842. 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.

Lord Erne married Selina Griselda, daughter of The Rev. Charles Cobbe Beresford, in 1837. He died in October 1885, aged 83, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son John, who became a Conservative government minister.