Lord Chancellor of Ireland

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The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland (commonly known as Lord Chancellor of Ireland) was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801, it was also the highest political office of the Irish Parliament: the Chancellor was Speaker of the Irish House of Lords. The Lord Chancellor was also Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of Ireland. In all three respects, the office mirrored the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.

Origins[]

There is a good deal of confusion as to precisely when the office originated. Until the reign of Henry III of England it is doubtful if the offices of Irish and English Chancellor were distinct.[1] Only in 1232 is there the first clear reference to a separate Court of Chancery (Ireland). Early Irish Lord Chancellors, beginning with Stephen Ridell in 1186, were simply the English Chancellor acting through a Deputy. In about 1244 the decision was taken that there must be separate holders of the office in England and Ireland.[2] Elrington Ball states that the salary was fixed at sixty marks a year, equivalent to forty pounds sterling. Although it was twice what an itinerant justice was paid at the time, this was apparently not considered to be a very generous amount: Richard Northalis, Lord Chancellor in 1393–97, complained that it did not cover even a third of his expenses, and asked for an extra payment of twenty pounds a year.

In the earlier centuries the Lord Chancellor was always a cleric, and usually an Englishman. Lay Chancellors became common after the Reformation, and no cleric was appointed Chancellor after 1665, but although there were a number of exceptions, the Crown retained a preference for English-born Chancellors until the mid-nineteenth century.

Lord Chancellors of Ireland, 1186–1922[]

12th century[]

  • Stephen Ridell. Appointed in 1186.[3] (first Chancellor)

13th century[]

14th century[]

15th century[]

16th century[]

17th century[]

  • Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland (1605)
  • Archbishop Thomas Jones (1605–1619)
  • Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland (1619)
  • The Viscount Loftus (1619–1639)[19]
  • Sir Richard Bolton (1639 – November 1648)
  • Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland (14 June 1655−1656)[20]
    • Richard Pepys LCJ, Chief Commissioner (1655–1656)
    • Gerard Lowther LCJCP, Second Commissioner (1655–1656)
    • Miles Corbet LCB, Third Commissioner (1655–1656)
  • William Steele (1656–1660)
  • Sir Maurice Eustace (1660–1665)[21]
  • Archbishop Michael Boyle (1665–1686)
  • Sir Charles Porter (1686–1687)
  • Sir Alexander Fitton (1687–1690)
  • Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland (1690)
  • Charles Porter (second term) (29 December 1690 – 1696)
  • Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland (1696–1697)
  • John Methuen (11 March 1697 – 1703)

18th century[]

  • Sir Richard Cox (1703–1707)
  • Richard Freeman (11 June 1707 – 1710)
  • Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland (1710–1)
  • Sir Constantine Henry Phipps (22 January 1711 – September 1714)[22]
  • The Viscount Midleton (11 October 1714 – 1725)
  • Richard West (29 May 1725 – 1726)[23]
  • The Lord Wyndham (13 December 1726 – 1739)[23]
  • The Viscount Jocelyn (7 September 1739 – 3 December 1756)[24]
  • The Lord Bowes (11 March 1757 – 22 July 1767) (Attorney-General, 1739–41)
  • The Viscount Lifford (24 November 1767 – 28 April 1789)
  • Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland (1789)
  • The Earl of Clare (20 June 1789 – 28 January 1802) (sitting Attorney-General)

19th century[]

  • The Lord Redesdale (15 February 1802 – 1806)
  • George Ponsonby (25 March 1806 – 1807)
  • The Lord Manners (23 April 1807 – 1827)
  • Sir Anthony Hart (5 November 1827– November 1830)
  • The Lord Plunket (23 December 1830 – November 1834) (Attorney-General, 1805–07 and 1822–27)
  • Sir Edward Sugden (13 January 1835 – April 1835)
  • The Lord Plunket (30 April 1835 – 1841) (see above)
  • The Lord Campbell (22 June 1841)
  • Sir Edward Sugden (3 October 1841 – 1846) (see above)
  • Maziere Brady (16 July 1846 – 1852) (Attorney-General, 1839–40)[25]
  • Francis Blackburne (1852) (Attorney-General 1831-34 and 1841–42)
  • Maziere Brady (1852–1858) (see above)[26]
  • Sir Joseph Napier (1858–1859) (Attorney-General, 1852)
  • Maziere Brady (1859–1866) (see above)[26]
  • Francis Blackburne (1866–1867) (see above)
  • Abraham Brewster (Attorney-General, 1853–55) (1867–1868)
  • The Lord O'Hagan (1868–1874)[27]
  • Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland (1874–1875)
    • Sir Joseph Napier, Chief Commissioner (1874–1875)
    • James Anthony Lawson (1874–1875)
    • William Brooke (1874–1875)
  • John Ball (1875–1880) (sitting Attorney-General)[27]
  • The Lord O'Hagan (1880–1881) (see above)[27]
  • Hugh Law (1881–1883) (sitting Attorney-General)[27]
  • Sir Edward Sullivan (1883–1885) (Attorney-General, 1868)[27]
  • John Naish (1885) (sitting Attorney-General)[27]
  • The Lord Ashbourne (1885–1886) (Attorney-General, 1877–80)[28]
  • John Naish (1886) (see above)[27]
  • The Lord Ashbourne (1886–1892) (see above)[29]
  • Samuel Walker (1892–1895) (Attorney-General, February–August 1886)[27]
  • The Lord Ashbourne (29 June 1895 – 1905) (see above)[29]

20th century[]

Name
(Birth–Death) 		Term of office Other Peerage(s) Monarch
(Reign) 		Notes
Sir Samuel Walker
(1832–1911) 		12 December
1905 		13 August
1911† 		Baronet in 1906 Edward VII (Lord Chancellor, 1892-5)
George V
Redmond Barry[30]
(1866–1913) 		26 September
1911 		11 July
1913† 		– (sitting Attorney-General)
Sir Ignatius O'Brien[31]
(1857–1930) 		10 April
1913 		1918 Baronet in 1916
Baron in 1918 		(sitting Attorney-General)
Sir James Campbell[32]
(1851–1931) 		4 June
1918 		1921 Baronet in 1917
Baron in 1921 		(Attorney-General, 1905 and 1916–17; Lord Chief Justice, 1917-18)
Sir John Ross, Bt.[33]
(1853–1935) 		27 June
1921 		27 December
1922 		Baronet in 1919 –

References[]

  1. ^ Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland, 1221–1921 John Murray London 1926 Vol. 1, p. 6
  2. ^ a b Ball p. 8
  3. ^ a b c Ball p. 6
  4. ^ a b c d e The history of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland from A.D. 1186 to A.D. 1874
  5. ^ Otway-Ruthven, A.J. History of Medieval Ireland Barnes and Noble reissue 1993 p. 256
  6. ^ Ball p. 79
  7. ^ "The History and Antiquities of the Collegiate and Cathedral Church of St. Patrick Near Dublin, from it Foundation in 1190, to the Year 1819: Comprising a Topographical Account of the Lands and Parishes Appropriated to the Community of the Cathedral, and to Its Members, and Biographical Memoirs of Its Deans" Mason, W.M. p122:Dublin, W.Folds, 1820
  8. ^ Ball p. 80
  9. ^ a b Otway-Ruthven p. 302
  10. ^ Otway-Ruthven p. 3i6
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Ball p. 98
  12. ^ Otway-Ruthven p. 370
  13. ^ Otway-Ruthven, p.386
  14. ^ a b Otway-Ruthven p. 389
  15. ^ Otway-Ruthven p. 391
  16. ^ Dictionary of National Biography, article on St. Lawrence.
  17. ^ a b Ball p. 130
  18. ^ a b Ball p. 131
  19. ^ Ball p. 250
  20. ^ James Roderick O'Flanagan,The lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of Ireland, 1870, page 345
  21. ^ Ball p. 272
  22. ^ O'Flanagan pp. 536–541
  23. ^ a b Ball Vol. 2 p. 101
  24. ^ Ball Vol. 2 p. 127
  25. ^ Delaney, V.T.H. Christopher Palles Allen Figgis and Co Dublin 1960 p.29
  26. ^ a b Delaney p. 29
  27. ^ a b c d e f g h Delaney p. 177
  28. ^ Healy, Maurice The Old Munster Circuit 1939 Mercier Press edition p. 27
  29. ^ a b Healy p. 27
  30. ^ Healy p. 105
  31. ^ Healy p. 188
  32. ^ Healy p. 242
  33. ^ Healy p. 263

External links[]

  • Ball, F. Elrington (1926). The Judges in Ireland, 1221–1921. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 9781584774280.
  • O'Flanagan, J. Roderick (1870). "The Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of Ireland – from the earliest times to the reign of Queen Victoria". Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  • Smyth, Constantine J. (1839). Chronicle of the law officers of Ireland . London: Henry Butterworth.
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