Major-General Sir Hugh McCalmont KCB CVO (9 February 1845 – 2 May 1924) was an Anglo-Irish soldier, politician, and horseman.

[5] He was elected as an Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for North Antrim in 1895 but resigned in 1899 by becoming Steward of the Manor of Northstead.

McCalmont lived at Abbeylands, a two-storey Victorian house in Whiteabbey, near Belfast, until it was set on fire by Suffragettes in 1914[10] causing £20,000 of damage.

[11][12] Unionist leader, Edward Carson, had declared against votes for women, meanwhile his Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) had been drilling troops at Abbeylands House.

In protest the Suffragettes burnt the building to the ground on 27 March 1914, complaining that they were being imprisoned while the UVF were gun running and preparing for civil war.