[3] Lord Abercorn was first appointed a deputy lieutenant of County Tyrone,[4] where he had a family seat at Baronscourt.

[3] From 11 April 1855 to 22 September 1860, he was Honorary Colonel of the Prince of Wales's Own Donegal Militia, and on 18 February 1860, was commissioned as a Captain in the newly raised London Scottish Rifle Volunteers.

He was elected Chancellor of the University of Ireland in 1881, and died four years later at his home of Baronscourt, County Tyrone on 31 October 1885.

[5] He is buried in the cemetery at Baronscourt Parish Church, the traditional burial place of the Dukes of Abercorn and their families.

[1] They had fourteen children, thirteen of whom survived infancy, among them seven daughters, all of whom were ordered to marry into the peerage and no one beneath the rank of an earl:[9] Abercorn died in October 1885, aged 74, and was succeeded by his eldest son, James.