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Lord Chancellor of Ireland

{{Short description|Former highest political and judicial office in Ireland}}

{{Use Hiberno-English|date=July 2022}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}

The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, commonly known as the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was the highest ranking judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 until the end of 1800, 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.

File:Rt Hon John Methuen as Lord Chancellor of Ireland - by Adrien Carpentiers.png as Lord Chancellor of Ireland (c.1697)]]

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.Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland, 1221–1921 John Murray London 1926 Vol. 1, p. 6 Only in 1232 is there a 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.Ball p. 8 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, it was apparently not considered to be a very generous amount: Richard Northalis, Lord Chancellor 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 his case, it is thought that the hostility of his colleagues in government was responsible for the poor salary.

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.Ball p. 6 (first Chancellor). Came to Ireland in the entourage of the future King John, and was then referred to as "his Chancellor".

=13th century=

=14th century=

=15th century=

Chancellor 1479 and 1482-1483)Ball p.186

=16th century=

=17th century=

=18th century=

=19th century=

=20th century=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:Center; white-space: nowrap;"
Name
(Birth–Death)

! colspan=2 | Term of office

! Other Peerage(s)

! Monarch
(Reign)

! Notes

rowspan=2| Sir Samuel Walker, 1st Baronet
{{small|(1832–1911)}}

|rowspan=2| {{small|12 December}}
1905

|rowspan=2| {{small|13 August}}
1911†

|rowspan=2| Baronet in 1906

| Edward VII

|rowspan=2| (Lord Chancellor, 1892-5)

rowspan=5 | George V
Redmond BarryHealy p. 105
{{small|(1866–1913)}}

| {{small|26 September}}
1911

| {{small|11 July}}
1913†

| –

| (sitting Attorney-General)

Sir Ignatius O'BrienHealy p. 188
{{small|(1857–1930)}}

| {{small|10 April}}
1913

| 1918

| Baronet in 1916
Baron Shandon in 1918

| (sitting Attorney-General)

Sir James CampbellHealy p. 242
{{small|(1851–1931)}}

| {{small|4 June}}
1918

| 1921

| Baronet in 1917
Baron Glenavy in 1921

| (Attorney-General, 1905, 1916–17; Lord Chief Justice, 1917-18)

Sir John Ross, 1st BaronetHealy p. 263
{{small|(1853–1935)}}

| {{small|27 June}}
1921

| {{small|27 December}}
1922

| Baronet in 1919

| –

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • {{cite book|last=Ball|first=F. Elrington|title=The Judges in Ireland, 1221–1921|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rqeSXWqKAD8C|year=1926|publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.|isbn=9781584774280}}
  • {{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/livesoflordchanc01oflauoft/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater |title=The Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of Ireland – from the earliest times to the reign of Queen Victoria|first= J. Roderick|last= O'Flanagan| date=1870 |volume=I |access-date = 9 February 2023}} [https://archive.org/details/livesoflordchanc02oflauoft Volume II]
  • {{cite book|last=Smyth|first=Constantine J.|title=Chronicle of the law officers of Ireland|year=1839|publisher=Henry Butterworth|location=London}}

{{Irish courts pre-1922}}

{{Dublin Castle administration}}

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Category:Political office-holders in pre-partition Ireland

Ireland

Category:Legislative speakers in Ireland