William Tynbegh
William Tynbegh, or de Thinbegh (c.1375-1424) was an Irish lawyer who had a long and distinguished career as a judge, holding office as Chief Justice of all three of the courts of common law and as Lord High Treasurer of Ireland. His career is unusual in that he left the Bench to become Attorney General for Ireland, but later returned to the Bench.
He was born in Ireland to a family of Welsh origin: his surname derives from the town of Tenby in Pembrokeshire.[1] In 1392 he received a license to study law in England.[2] Somewhat surprisingly (since he can only have been called to the Bar a few years previously) he was appointed Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland as early as 1396 and Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer in 1397.[1]In 1400, in an act seemingly without precedent, he resigned from the Bench to become Attorney General. [1]He is mentioned again as Chief Baron in 1405 and 1417; in 1412 he received a royal commission to act as justice of the peace in Dublin and the adjoining counties. He was Seneschal of County Wexford about 1413. He returned to the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) as Chief Justice in 1419 and again in 1423, not long before his death.[1] In 1420 he witnessed the charter by which King Henry V guaranteed certain liberties and privileges to the Mayor and citizens of Dublin.[3]
In the early stages of Talbot-Butler feud, the clash between two powerful magnate families which dominated Irish public life for decades, Tynbegh was a member of the Talbot faction, headed by John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and an opponent of James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormonde. He was seen very much as a Talbot "client", and owed his career advancement in its later stages to the fact. Ormonde as a result managed to have Tynbegh dismissed from office, but in Tynbegh's last years they were able to work together amicably.[4]
He spent some time in France in 1420-21. He was appointed Treasurer of Ireland in 1421, having regularly served as Deputy Treasurer.[5] He was still living in March 1424 when he ordered the Archbishop of Dublin to make a grant of the lands formerly owned by Thomas Leger to Richard Vale;[6] but he died later the same year.[1]
References[]
- ^ a b c d e Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926 Vol.1 p. 170
- ^ Brand, P. Irish Lawyers and Law Students in Late Medieval England 2000 Irish Historical Studies Vol.32 pp.161-173
- ^ Lucas, Charles The Great Charter of the Liberties of the City of Dublin Dublin 1739 p.33
- ^ Beresford, David "Tynbegh, William" Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography
- ^ Patent Roll 1 Henry VI
- ^ Patent Roll 2 Henry VI
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- 1424 deaths
- 15th-century Irish judges
- Irish people of Welsh descent
- Lords Chief Justice of Ireland
- Chief Barons of the Irish Exchequer
- Chief Justices of the Irish Common Pleas
- Irish law biography stubs