Angus McDonnell

The Honourable Angus McDonnell (7 June 1881 – 22 April 1966) was a British engineer, diplomat and Conservative Party politician. Early life He was the second son of William Randal McDonnell, 6th Earl of Antrim, and Louisa McDonnell, Countess of Antrim. After his education at Eton College, he briefly entered business as a merchant banker with Morgan Grenfell. He subsequently moved to the United States, where he worked for Chiswell Langhorne in constructing railways in Virginia. McDonnell became a close friend of Langhorne's daughter Nancy Astor. With the outbreak of the First World War, he served with the railway troops reserve of the 1st Canadian Division in constructing railways behind the lines of the Western Front and rose to the rank of colonel. Political career He returned to the United Kingdom, where he was chosen by the Conservative Party to contest the constituency of Dartford at the 1924 general election. He won the seat bynarrowly defeating the sitting Labour Party Member of Parliament, John Edmund Mills. McDonnell had little interest in Parliament, did not defend the seat in 1929 and returned to his business activities.