Background
His parents were William, 4th Lord Plunket, the archbishop of Dublin in 1884-1897, and his wife Anne, the daughter of Sir Benjamin Guinness.
Governor-General of New Zealand politician
His parents were William, 4th Lord Plunket, the archbishop of Dublin in 1884-1897, and his wife Anne, the daughter of Sir Benjamin Guinness.
Born in Dublin, he was educated at Harrow and Trinity College Dublin.
He was Governor of New Zealand from 1904-1910. He entered the Diplomatic Service and was sent to Rome in 1889 as an attaché to the British Embassy there. In 1892, he was appointed in the same position to the embassy in Constantinople, and finally retired two years later.
Having succeeded his father as fifth Baron Plunket in 1897, Plunket three years later became private secretary to Lord Cadogan, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the time, and fulfilled the same role for his successor, Lord Dudley.
He was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1900 and 1903 respectively, and in 1904 he became Governor of New Zealand as well as a Knight Commander of the Order of Street Michael and Saint George the following year. He held this post until 1910, when he was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Street Michael and Street George. He was later appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1918.
He was a Freemason. During his term as Governor of New Zealand (1906-1909), he was also Grand Master of New Zealand"s Grand Lodge.
Lord Plunket died on 24 January 1920 aged 55 in 40 Elvaston Place, London, and was buried in the city"s Putney Vale Cemetery.