Paternally of Gaelic Irish descent with the original name of Ó hÉalaighthe, their ancestors had long lived in the County Cork area as allies of the Mac Cárthaigh clan; they lost out during the times of Oliver Cromwell.

One branch of the family converted to the Anglican Church and after inheriting territories through his mother and adding "Hutchinson" to Hely, became the Earl of Donoughmore.

Lord Donoughmore was the eldest son of the Irish statesman and lawyer John Hely-Hutchinson, who married Christiana, daughter of Abraham Nixon (or Nickson) and niece and heiress of Richard Hutchinson of Knocklofty in County Tipperary, whose surname she and her husband adopted.

In 1801 he was created Baron Hutchinson, of Alexandria and Knocklofty in the County of Tipperary, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, with remainder to the heirs male of his body.

His grandson, the fifth Earl, was also a Conservative politician and held office as Under-Secretary of State for War from 1903 to 1904 under Arthur Balfour.

[6] The heir apparent is the present holder's eldest son John Michael James Hely-Hutchinson, Viscount Suirdale (born 1952), who was educated at Harrow School.

Richard Gregory Hely-Hutchinson (born 1980), who was educated at Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle and St Hugh's College, Oxford.