Background
McDonnell, eldest son of James McDonnell, Doctor of Medicine, was born at Belfast in 1794.
McDonnell, eldest son of James McDonnell, Doctor of Medicine, was born at Belfast in 1794.
He graduated Bachelor of Arts 1816, and Master of Arts He was called to the bar at Lincoln"s Inn, 23 November 1824, went the midland circuit, attended the Leicester and Northampton sessions, and served as a commissioner of inquiry into public charities.
He gained a king"s scholarship at Westminster School in 1809, and was elected in 1813 to Christ Church, Oxford, where he held a studentship till 1826. Of an exceedingly sensitive temperament, he broke down in pleading a case before a committee of the House of Lords, and, mortified beyond expression, renounced the bar, returned to Ireland, and accepted the position of chief clerk in the chief secretary"s office under Thomas Drummond (1797–1840). In 1839 he was appointed resident commissioner of the board of education, of which he became the presiding genius.
He was made a privy councillor of Ireland in 1846, resigned his commissionership in December 1871, and was created a baronet 20 January 1872.
Study of the classics and history formed the chief solace of his retirement. He was deeply attached to Ireland, which he desired to see drawn closer to England by means of just and generous government.
He died at 32 Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin, 21 January 1875, and was buried at Kilsharvan, near Drogheda. She died at Kilsharvan, 6 April 1865, leaving no issue.