His father had succeeded to the earldom upon the death of his grand-uncle, Abraham Creighton, 2nd Earl Erne (MP for Lifford from 1790 to 1797 who was declared insane in 1798 and then incarcerated at Brooke House, London, for the next forty years).

[2] He was made a Knight of the Order of St Patrick in 1889; and was appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902,[3] being sworn in by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Earl Cadogan, at Dublin Castle on 11 August 1902.

[4] On 28 December 1870, Lord Erne was married to Lady Florence Mary Cole, daughter of William Willoughby Cole, 3rd Earl of Enniskillen, and the former Jane Casamaijor (daughter of James Casamaijor).

The next day, 31 October 1914, his eldest son Henry, a Major (Brevet Lt.-Col.) in the Royal Horse Guards, was also killed in action, aged 42, during the Great War, and was is buried at Zantvoorde British Cemetery in Flanders.

[5] Only a month later, Lord Erne himself died on 2 December 1914, aged 75, and was succeeded in his titles by his seven-year-old grandson John, his eldest son having predeceased him.