John David Clotworthy Whyte-Melville Foster Skeffington was a former member of the House of Lords with a close connection to Antrim through the one-time family seat of Antrim Castle.
The 14th Viscount Massereene and 7th Viscount Ferrard’s father was born at the castle, which was burned to ruins by a mysterious fire in 1922.
The family escaped the blaze, some lowering themselves from windows using bedsheets, but a kitchen maid, Ethel Gilligan (22), could not be rescued.
Lord Massereene spent much time in his teenage years in the estate’s Victorian pleasure gardens and said it always had a “vast place” in his heart.
The family sold the grounds to the council in 1961 to develop a public park, still enjoyed by many visitors today.
The former owner returned in 2015 to officially open the newly restored and renamed Castle Gardens, and again seven years later to mark the centenary of the fire, which saw the castle demolished in 1970.
He had also planned to return in September to see a new statue of Queen Elizabeth II being installed.
His widow Denise said: “His heart certainly was always in Antrim.”
Born in 1940, Lord Massereene’s Irish viscountcies dated back to the 17th century, with colourful ancestors including one who ordered 60 dogs to be dressed in mourning attire to attend the funeral of his favourite hound.
He succeeded his father on the Conservative benches of the House of Lords after his death in 1992, but lost his seat within a decade when legislation ended automatic rights of hereditary peers.
In 2013 he stood unsuccessfully as a Ukip candidate in a House of Lords by-election.
Like his father, he was a president of the right-wing and staunchly unionist Monday Club. He was also a member of the House of Lords tug-of-war team.
He worked as a strockbroker and had a passion for repairing vintage cars, driving a 1920s Rolls-Royce that he had restored.
Lord Massereene died aged 84 on November 14 and is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.