13 May 2020
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
There is still a living person who has the title ‘Earl of Cork’
The title now has no political power in Ireland, so from a Cork perspective, it’s just an interesting part of history. Much like someone have a surname relating to a placename, that does not mean they own the placename
The title of the ‘Earl of Cork’ was created in 1620. Separately, the title of Earl of Orrery was created in 1660. The two titles have been united – held by the same person at the same time – since 1753.
The current Earl of Cork, who is more commonly known as ‘Lord Cork’, sits in the UK House of Lords in Westminster, London. His given name is John Richard Boyle. He is the 15th Earl of Cork and Orrery.
Politically aware readers will know that the House of Lords Act 1999 removed the entitlement of most of the hereditary Peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords so how is a hereditary peer sitting there? It’s because 92 hereditary Peers retain seats thanks to being elected by sitting Peers. Boyle is a Crossbench – which means non-party – peer who has sat under this title in the Lords since 19 July 2016. The election leading to this only took place because another Lord ceased to be a member of the House because of non-attendance. The non-attendance provision was created following the passage of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.
Official photograph of The current Earl of Cork and Orrery. Credit to https://beta.parliament.uk/media/UqqWzGOM
Boyle entered the Royal Navy and graduated from Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. In 1976, as a Lieutenant-Commander, he was given the command of HMS Sealion.
Boyle was first styled as Viscount Dungarvan as a courtesy title from 1995 following his father inheriting the earldoms. He later inherited the title of Earl of Cork and Orrery on the death of his father, John Boyle, the 14th Earl of Cork in November 2003.
The Earldom of Cork was an Irish Peerage, which meant that the holder had a seat in the Irish House of Lords which was abolished in the year 1800. It was the case that many Irish Peers also had titles in the peerage of Great Britain. The Earl of Cork has a British peerage ‘Baron Boyle of Marston’, and it was this that allowed him to stand in the by-election for the existing House of Lords in London. In the House of Lords, a person is referrer to by his most superior title regardless of which peerage is is from. Hence the current Earl of Cork is known as the Earl of Cork and Orrery, despite being elected via his GB barony.
Page 21 of the current Roll of the Peerage states
“BOYLE: Hereditary Baron in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (hereditary peer among the 92 sitting in the House of Lords under the House of Lords Act 1999): John Richard Lord Boyle (customarily styled by superior titles Earl of Cork and Earl of Orrery). Surname: Boyle.”
So, the fact that Lord Cork currently is a member of the Lords is due to a number of different threads of circumstance coming together, it’s an interesting footnote in Irish history.
