'Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall' (
June 16,
1606–
March 18,
1675) was an
Irish aristocrat and soldier. He was the eldest son of
Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester, and made a career as a soldier before being elected to the
Irish House of Commons as
Member of Parliament for
Armagh in
1634 and again in
1640.
Having distinguished himself in helping to put down the rebellion that took place in
Ulster in
1641, Chichester was admitted to the
Privy Council of Ireland in
1643 and appointed
Governor of
Belfast. It was on the advice of
the Duke of Ormonde,
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the time, that he was in
1647 created '
Earl of Donegall' in the
Peerage of Ireland. The title was created with a special remainder to the male heirs of his father, whom he succeeded a year later as second
Viscount Chichester. 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), this lectureship survives as an annual public lecture at the School of Mathematics in Trinity College.
Lord Donegall died after a short illness in
Belfast in
1675 and was buried in St Nicholas's Church,
Carrickfergus.