Earl of Bantry, of Bantry in the County of Cork, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland

Peerage of Ireland

The Peerage of Ireland is the term used for those titles of nobility created by the English and later British monarchs of Ireland in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. The creation of such titles came to an end in the 19th century. The ranks of the Irish peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl,...

. It was created in 1816 for Richard White, 1st Viscount Bantry, who had helped repelling the French invasion at Bantry Bay

Bantry Bay

Bantry Bay is a bay located in County Cork, southwest Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km wide at the head and wide at the entrance....

 in 1797. He had already been created Baron Bantry, of Bantry in the County of Cork, and Viscount Bantry, of Bantry in the County of Cork, in 1800, and was made Viscount Berehaven at the same time he was given the earldom. These titles were also in the Peerage of Ireland. He was the grandson of Richard White, who had made an immense fortune through his work as a lawyer. Lord Bantry was succeeded by his son, the second Earl. He sat on the Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 benches in the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

 as an Irish Representative Peer

Representative peer

In the United Kingdom, representative peers were those peers elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords...

 from 1854 to 1868. His younger brother, the third Earl, assumed in 1840 by Royal license the additional surname of Hedges, which was that of his paternal grandmother. He was an Irish Representative Peer from 1869 to 1884. The titles became extinct on the death of his son, the fourth Earl, in 1891.

The family seat was Bantry House

Bantry House

Bantry House is a historic house with gardens in Bantry, County Cork, Ireland.-History:Bantry House was constructed in about 1700 on the South side of Bantry Bay. In 1750, Councillor Richard White bought Blackrock from Samuel Hutchinson and changed the name to Seafield...

, near Bantry

Bantry

Bantry is a town on the coast of County Cork, Ireland. It lies on the N71 national secondary road at the head of Bantry Bay, a deep-water gulf extending for 30 km to the west...

, in County Cork

County Cork

County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. The house is still in the hands of the White family.

Earls of Bantry (1816)

• Richard White, 1st Earl of Bantry (1767–1851)
• Richard White, 2nd Earl of Bantry
  Richard White, 2nd Earl of Bantry
  Richard White, 2nd Earl of Bantry DL , styled The Honourable from birth until 1816 and subsequently Viscount Berehaven until 1851, was an Irish peer and Conservative politician....
  
   (1800–1868)
• William Henry Hare Hedges-White, 3rd Earl of Bantry (1801–1884)
• William Henry Hare Hedges-White, 4th Earl of Bantry (1854–1891)