Born in London on the 9th of July 1828, the son of Edmund Charles Workman Macnaghton, of Bushmills, Co. Antrim, and his wife, Mary Anne, daughter of Edward Gwatkin, Esq.
His father, M.A. Dublin, was called to the Irish Bar from the Master of the Equity Court in Calcutta, India, M.P. for Antrim, 1847-50 and Deputy-Lieutenant for County Antrim.
A brother, Edmund Francis Charges, of the Royal Artillery, was killed in action against the Maoris at Waitara, New Zealand, in 1861.
[PB: Add info about his other brother, the Judge.]
Cornet in the 8th Hussars: 7th of October 1846.
Lieutenant, 8th Hussars: 23rd of May 1848.
Captain, 8th Hussars: 8th of December 1854.
"Horse Guards,
26th May 1856.
Sir, — I have the honour, by direction of the Field Marsh Commanding-in-Chief to acknowledge your letter of the 19th inst, and to acquaint you that the Commandant of the Royal Military College has been informed that as Captain Macnaghton of the regiment under your command cannot be spared from his regimental duties, his Lordship has been compelled to withdraw his approval of that officer attending the Board of Examiners on the 1st of July next with a view to his becoming a student at the Senior Department.
I have, etc., etc.,
W. A. Forster, AAG.
[To:] Officer Commanding 8th Hussars, Dundalk.
Major, 8th Hussars: 5th of August 1859.
Lieutenant-Colonel, and assumed the command of the Regiment: 21st of February 1865.
Retired, by the sale of his commission, on the 5th of April 1871.
He was Honorary Colonel of the 4th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles and on his relinquishing this post was "allowed to retain the rank and wear the prescribed uniform of the regiment".
[PB: Is next para a quote?]
He devoted himself with great zeal and ability to local affairs, being the Foreman of the Grand Old Jury, Chairman of Antrim County Council, M.P. for Port Rush, P.C. of Ireland, Lord Lieutenant of County Antrim and was High Sheriff in 1877.
He married, on the 7th of June 1866, at Holy Trinity Church, Brompton, London, Alice Mary, daughter of William Howard Russell, L.L.D., of Dundaraven, Bush Mills, Co. Antrim. (His father-in-law was the well-known "Times" journalist in the Crimea.) The ceremony was conducted by the Revd None.
The couple were, however, divorced on the 16th of February 1883.
Captain Macnaghton served the Eastern campaign of 1854-55, including the battles of the Alma, Balaclava and Inkerman, affairs of the Bulganak and MacKenzie's Farm and the Siege and fall of Sebastopol. (Medal and four Clasps.)
Served in Rajapootana and Central India in 1857-8, and was present at the capture of Kotah-ke-Seraia, and the capture of Gwalior, action of Koondrye (horse wounded) and Boordah. (Medal and Clasp.)
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol, the Turkish Medal and the Mutiny medal with clasp for Central India.
Extract from the Weekly Telegraph, 29th of July 1911:
[PB: I am not certain whether this is all one quote, or from a number of different sources. Check.]
"Veteran of the Crimean Campaign
Notable career closed — Association with Co. Antrim — Death of Sir F. Macnaghton.
We regret to announce the death of the Right Honourable Sir Francis Workman Macnaghton (head of the clan Macnaghton) His Majesty's Lieutenant for the County of Antrim, which occurred early on Friday last at Dundarave, his beautiful mansion near Bushmills.
For over 40 years Sir Francis was a familiar figure in the county of Antrim, in the management of whose affairs he was for so long and honourably identified.
He was the eldest son of the late Sir Francis Edward Workman Macnaghton, the second baronet, and was born in London on the 9th of July 1828, two years before his brother, Edward, better known as Lord Macnaghton, one of the Lords of Appeal-in-Chancery since 1887.
[PB: Perhaps add note about his brother, presumbly author of the "MacNaughton Rules"?]
Sir Francis was destined for more stern pursuits than that of the law, and while he was quite a young man he came through many stirring scenes as an officer in the Army, which he had entered in his eighteenth year.
In the years 1854-55 he saw much of the hard fighting in the Crimea with his regiment, the 8th Hussars, or 8th Dragoon Guards [sic] as they were then known, and on whose battle honours are the names of "Alma," "Balaclava," "Inkerman," and "Sebastopol".
After ten years' service he received his captaincy in the regiment.
Captain Macnaghton served also in India, where he next took part in the fighting which ultimately resulted in the quelling of the terrible native Mutiny.
In 1865 he was promoted to the command of the regiment, which he held for the usual period, and in 1871 he finally retired from the Army.
Since then he has lived at Dundarave, devoting his life, into which there afterwards came much of loneliness and sadness, to the interests of the county and to the management of his estates.
Since 1871 he has served as Grand Juror at practically every Assize for the county of Antrim, and for many years he was Foreman of the Grand Jury.
The County Assizes, up till the passing of the Local Government Act, covered the jurisdiction of Belfast, but since then the City has been made a separate venue, with a commission of its own.
In the old days, when the fiscal affairs were in the hands of the Grand Jury, Sir Francis was always to the front, and under his guidance the affairs of the county were wisely administered.
When the County Councils were established in 1898, and superseded the Grand Juries in all their duties, except in so far as they related to the finding of bills on the indictments laid before them at the Assizes, Sir Francis was returned for the Portrush Division, and held the seat up till his death.
The new Council unanimously elected him as its first chairman, and he presided over the deliberations of the Council until 1909, when he was relieved of the chairmanship, rather ungraciously, as many thought, on account of his advancing years.
He felt the change very keenly, but it was only a majority vote which made the change.
That his long service as chairman was very highly appreciated was shown by the fact that in August of last year the members of the County Council presented Sir Francis with a magnificent portrait of himself done in oils, and painted by Mr. John Horsburg, of Edinburgh.
[PB: Try to find a copy of this portrait.]
At that time too, a copy was made, and now having been unveiled, this has a place of honour in the Council's Chamber as a permanent memorial to the first chairman of the body, and one who has carried out his duties with such conspicuous impartiality and courtesy.
Although Sir Francis was not well enough to be able to attend in person on that occasion, he was represented by his two daughters.
In 1890 he was appointed Her Majesty's Lieutenant for the County, and in the same year was gazetted as Hon. Colonel of the 4th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles, then the Royal Antrim Militia.
The deceased had married, in 1866, Alice Mary, daughter of Sir William Russell, L.L.D., the famous war correspondent.
He had two sons and two daughters and in his latter years the deaths of the former came as a heavy blow on him.
His eldest son, Edward Francis, a lieutenant in the 16th Lancers, was killed in India on the 12th of October 1899 in his 29th year, and his second son, Kenneth William, a captain in the Royal Fusiliers, was drowned in Egypt on the 15th of April 1903 at the age of 28.
Sir Francis lived a somewhat lonely life in his closing years.
He came to Belfast quite frequently to attend the County Council meetings and the Assizes, and presided frequently over the Petty Sessions at both Bushmills and Portrush.
Owing to illness and increased feebleness he was unable to attend the Spring Assizes in 1909, being absent for the first time in almost forty years from his accustomed place in the corner of the Grand Jury box, where his venerable figure and long snow-white beard was always a conspicuous feature.
He was a courtly gentleman of the old-fashioned type, a great scholar and mathematician and in his younger days was one of the finest shots in the whole of Ireland.
His services to his country were given as freely and as disinterestedly, and by his removal the county has lost a faithful and honoured representative, whose place, it is true to say, will never be adequately filled.
Funeral at Bushmills
An Impressive Procession — Amid very many manifestations of public mourning the remains of the late Sir Francis Magnaghton were removed from his late residence, Dundarave, on Monday last, for interment in the Bushmills Parish burying-ground.
The funeral cortege was of large dimensions, representative of the leading families of Co. Antrim and County Derry.
The 3rd Special Reserve (Queen's Antrim Rifles) were represented by an officer and party of senior N.C.O.'s, Colonel Macartney Filgate, the officer commanding the battalion, being unexpectedly prevented from attending.
The Royal Irish Constabulary were also well represented.
The deceased's workmen carried the deceased's remains through the town in relays of six until the church was reached.
Business was entirely suspended during the mournful march of military and civilians through the town, and window blinds were drawn in respect to the deceased, who was, with all the Magnaghton family, held in high respect by the community, and deeply deplore the loss of Sir Francis to them.
The breast-plate of the coffin bore the inscription: "Colonel Sir Francis E. Magnaghton, Bart., P.C. H.M.L. County of Antrim. Born July 9th 1828 — Died July 21st 1911."
On its arrival at Dunluce the massive oak coffin, which was covered with beautiful wreaths, was borne inside by officers of the Royal Irish Rifles, and a brief but impressive funeral service was held, the Revds H.R. Medcalf (Vicar of Bushmills) and C. Frizell (Belfast) officiating.
The remains were again borne out by the Riflemen and placed in their last resting place in a grave, newly decorated with moss and flowers, at the southern end of the little churchyard, the Revds Medcalf and Frizell again officiating.
The earth was then reverently turned down on all that was mortal of one who had taken such a prominent part in the public offices of Country Antrim, and whose memory will long remain fragrant...
Pulpit reference at Bushmills
Speaking at the morning service in Bushmills parish church on Sunday, the Revd H. Medcalf (rector) in a reference to the deceased Sir Francis Magnaghton, Bart, said they all thought of him that morning, not in his public capacity, but as the loyal churchwarden, the regular worshipper whom no severity of weather or other cause could keep him from his place in church on the Lord's Day, as the regular and devout communicant; as one who filled for so long the office of select vestry man and parochial nominator.
They did not forget his conscientious attendance at their vestry meetings and his untiring interest in the welfare of the church.
Dunluce Church has lost a true friend and supporter in Sir Francis, who was respected by all classes of the local community, and who was a man actuated by the very strictest and highest sense of duty."
His eldest son, Edward Francis, served with the 16th Lancers and was drowned whilst fishing in the river Poonah in India on the 12th of October 1899.
He had passed out of the Signalling School at Kasuli with the reputation of being the finest signaller who had ever passed through it and was considered the finest shot in the regiment with a sporting gun.
He had served during the Mohammed Campaign of 1897 as Transport Officer, receiving the Frontier Medal with clasp and was 29 years old at the time of his death.
Another son, Kenneth William, had suffered an almost identical fate, being drowned in the River Nile at Khartoum on the 15th of April 1903.
He was then serving in the Royal Fusiliers and was 28 years of age.
Original note: Nothing further is known of the exact manner of death of either.
Later note: Extract from the Army and Navy Gazette, 18th of November 1899:
"The mail from India has brought particulars of the death by drowning of Lieutenant Magnaghton in Kashmir.
The account was received from his companion on the tour, Captain Bewsher, of the 1st Bn. Hampshire Regiment.
On October 12th, they had made a short march to a place called Chak, near Sulpher, and later proceeded to fish a stream in the river there.
Captain Bewsher did not remain long, but returned to the camp to lie down.
About 2.45 p.m., Magnaghton's shikari came into camp with the news that his master had drowned.
Captain Bewsher rushed off with the man, who took him to a pool with high rocks on each side, about 2 miles distant.
After a short search they found the body lying in the bottom of a sort of back-water in the middle of the river.
Lieutenant Macnaghton was quite dead, having been in the water about one and a half hours.
The shikari said that his master had hooked a very big fish a little higher up the river and followed it down to the big pool, at the head of which he stood playing the fish — which must have "sulked," for he sent the shikari down the river to throw stones at it.
The man looked up, and saw his master with the rod in his hand, swimming.
Presently he dropped the rod and finally sank and disappeared.
The shikari says he went in after his Sahib, but finding he could do no good, ran back to the camp.
Captain Bewsher collected some coolies and brought the body back to Jhelum.
The railway authorities would not put on an extra carriage for Ambala and Captain Macnaghton was buried at Jhelum on October the 14th, before any of his fellow-officers could get there to pay their last tribute of respect for one who had made himself loved by his sterling qualities, both as an officer and a comrade.
Already it has been decided to erect a simple tablet at the scene of the catastrophe, while it is hoped to put up a memorial at Umballa or elsewhere to mark the affection in which the gallant young soldier was held throughout the regiment."
His grave in the Jhelum Cemetery is numbered 773 and the erected headstone bears the inscription:
"In memory of Edmund F, Macnaghton, 16th (Queen's) Lancers. Eldest son of Col. Sir Francis Macnaghton, Bt. of Dundarave, Co. Antrim. Ireland.
Drowned whilst fishing in the Poonch River, Oct. 12th 1899.
Aged 28 years."