Attorney-General for Ireland
The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. With the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, the duties of the Attorney General and Solicitor General for Ireland were taken over by the Attorney General of Ireland. The office of Solicitor General for Ireland was abolished at the same time, for reasons of economy. This led to repeated complaints from the first Attorney General of Ireland, Hugh Kennedy, about the "immense volume of work" which he was now forced to deal with single-handed.[1]
The first record of the existence of the office of Attorney General in Ireland, some 50 years after the equivalent office was established in England, is in 1313 when Richard Manning was appointed King's Attorney (the title Attorney General was not widely used until the 1530s).[2] The Attorney General was, initially, junior to the serjeant-at-law, but since the titles King's Serjeant and King's Attorney were often used interchangeably, it can be difficult to establish who held which office at any given time.[3] From the early 1660s, due largely to the personal prestige of Sir William Domville, (AG 1660-1686), the Attorney General became the chief legal adviser to the Crown. In certain periods, notably during the reign of Elizabeth I, who thought poorly of her Irish-born law officers, the English Crown adopted a policy of choosing English lawyers for this office.[4]
The Attorney General was always a member of the Privy Council of Ireland, and a strong Attorney, like Philip Tisdall, William Saurin, or Francis Blackburne, could exercise great influence over the Dublin administration. Tisdall (AG 1760-1777), was for much of his tenure as Attorney General also the Government leader in the Irish House of Commons, and a crucial member of the Irish administration. Saurin (AG 1807-1822) was regarded for many years as the effective head of the Irish Government. In 1841 Blackburne (AG 1830-1834, 1841-1842), on being challenged about a proposed appointment within his own office, said firmly that he "would not tolerate a refusal to ratify the appointment".[5] The office of Attorney General was described as being "a great mixture of law and general political reasoning"".[6]
Contents
1 Attorneys-General for Ireland, 1313–1922
1.1 14th century
1.2 15th century
1.3 16th century
1.4 17th century
1.5 18th century
1.6 19th century
1.7 20th century
2 References
3 Further reading
4 External links
Attorneys-General for Ireland, 1313–1922
14th century
- Richard Manning: appointed "King's Attorney" for Ireland 1313[7][8]
- William de Woodworth: c. 1327[9]
- Thomas of Westham: 1334
William le Petit: 1343
Nicholas Lumbard, or Lombard: 1345
Robert Preston, 1st Baron Gormanston: 1355- John de Leycestre: 1357
Henry Mitchell: 1372
John Tirel c. 1373–6- Robert Hore: 1379, superseded
- Thomas Malalo: 1381
- Robert Hemynborgh: 1385
15th century
William Tynbegh: 1400- John Barry: 1401
- John Whyte or White: 1422
- Stephen Roche: 1441
William Sutton: 1444- Robert FitzRery: 1450
Thomas Dowdall:[10] 1463
Nicholas Sutton: 1473
Thomas Archbold: 1478
Thomas Cusacke: 1480
Walter St. Lawrence: 1491
16th century
Clement Fitzleones: 1502
John Barnewall, 3rd Baron Trimlestown 1504- Nicholas Fitzsimons: 1504
incomplete[11]
Thomas St. Lawrence: 1532
Robert Dillon: 1535
Barnaby Skurloke or Skurlog: 1554- James Barnewall: 1559
Lucas Dillon: 1566
Edward Fitz-Symon: 1570
John Bathe: 1574
Thomas Snagge: 1577- Christopher Flemyng: 1580
- Edward Butler: 1582
Charles Calthorpe, afterwards Sir Charles: 1584
17th century
Sir John Davys or Davies: 1606
Sir William Ryves: 1619
Richard Osbaldeston of Gray's Inn: 1636
Thomas Tempest: 1640- William Basil: 1649, under the Protectorate
- Sir Wiliam Domville: 1660
- Sir Richard Nagle: December 1686
Sir John Temple: October 1690
Robert Rochfort, June 1695
18th century
Alan Brodrick: 12 June 1707
John Forster: 24 December 1709
Sir Richard Levinge, Bt: 4 June 1711
George Gore, 3 Nov 1714
John Rogerson, 14 May 1720
Thomas Marlay, 5 May 1727
Robert Jocelyn, 29 Sep 1730
John Bowes, 3 Sep 1739
St George Caulfeild, 23 Dec 1741
Warden Flood, 27 Aug 1751
Philip Tisdall, 31 July 1760
John Scott, 17 Oct 1777
Barry Yelverton: 2 July 1782
John Fitzgibbon, app 29 Nov 1783
Arthur Wolfe, app 16 July 1789
John Toler: 26 June 1798
19th century
John Stewart: 9 December 1800
Standish O'Grady: 28 May 1803[12]
William Plunket: 15 October 1805
William Saurin: 15 May 1807
William Plunket: 15 January 1822
Henry Joy: 18 June 1827
Edward Pennefather: 23 December 1830
Francis Blackburne: 11 January 1831
office vacant: 17 November 1834
Louis Perrin: 29 April 1835
Michael O'Loghlen: 31 August 1835
John Richards: 10 November 1836
Stephen Woulfe: 3 February 1837
Nicholas Ball: 11 July 1838
Maziere Brady: 23 February 1839
David Richard Pigot: 11 August 1840
Francis Blackburne: 23 September 1841
Thomas Berry Cusack Smith: 1 November 1842
Richard Wilson Greene: 2 February 1846
Richard Moore: 16 July 1846
James Henry Monahan: 21 December 1847
John Hatchell: 23 September 1850
Joseph Napier: February 1852
Abraham Brewster: April 1853
William Keogh: March 1855
John David Fitzgerald: March 1856
James Whiteside: February 1858
John David Fitzgerald: June 1859
Rickard Deasy: February 1860
Thomas O'Hagan: 1861
James Anthony Lawson: 1865
John Edward Walsh: 25 July 1866
Michael Morris: 1 November 1866
Hedges Eyre Chatterton: 1867
Robert Warren: 1867
John Thomas Ball: 1868
Edward Sullivan: 12 December 1868
Charles Robert Barry: 26 January 1870
Richard Dowse: 13 January 1872
Christopher Palles: 5 November 1872
Hugh Law: 1873 ??
John Thomas Ball: 12 March 1874
Henry Ormsby: 21 January 1875
George Augustus Chichester May: 27 November 1875
Edward Gibson: 15 February 1877
Hugh Law: 10 May 1880
William Moore Johnson: 17 November 1881
Andrew Marshall Porter: 3 January 1883
John Naish: 19 December 1883
Samuel Walker: 1885
Hugh Holmes: 3 July 1885
Samuel Walker: February 1886
Hugh Holmes: August 1886
John George Gibson: 1887
Peter O'Brien: 1888
Dodgson Hamilton Madden: 1890
John Atkinson: 1892[13]
The Macdermot: August 1892
John Atkinson: 8 July 1895
20th century
James Campbell: 4 December 1905
Richard Robert Cherry: 22 December 1905
Redmond Barry: 2 December 1909
Charles Andrew O'Connor: 26 September 1911
Ignatius O'Brien: 24 June 1912
Thomas Molony: 10 April 1913
John Moriarty: 20 June 1913
Jonathan Pim: 1 July 1914
John Gordon: 8 June 1915
James Campbell: 9 April 1916
James O'Connor: 8 January 1917
Arthur Samuels: 7 April 1918
Denis Henry: 6 July 1919
Thomas Brown: 5 August 1921
The office was vacant from 16 November 1921[14] and finally succeeded by the Attorney General of the Irish Free State on 31 January 1922.
References
Haydn's Book of Dignities (for pre-1691 names and dates)
^ McCullagh, David. The Reluctant Taoiseach: A Biography of John A Costello. Gill and MacMillan, Dublin, 2010. p. 48. Until 1929 the Attorney General had no full-time civil servants to assist him in giving legal advice, although there were a number of Parliamentary draughtsmen.
^ Casey, James The Irish Law Officers Round Hall Sweet and Maxwell 1996 p.7
^ Casey p.7
^ Casey "The Irish Law Officers"
^ Delaney, V. T. H. Christopher Palles. Allen Figgis and Co. Dublin, 1960. p. 60.
^ Delaney p.60
^ Hart, A.R. The History of the King's Serjeants at law in Ireland. Four Courts Press, 2000. p. 15.
^ Hart p. 15
^ Hart p. 15
^ Some sources refer to him as King's Serjeant, but the roles of Serjeant and Attorney were easily confused.
^ Smyth in his book Chronicle of the Irish Law Officers (1839) noted that the destruction of many State records made it impossible to compile a full list of holders of the office.
^ William Courthope, ed. (1838). Debrett's complete peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (22nd ed.). p. 652. Retrieved 11 December 2009..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ T. C. Tobias, ‘Atkinson, John, Baron Atkinson (1844–1932)’, rev. Sinéad Agnew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 accessed 17 Feb 2017
^ Butler & Butler, British Political Facts, 1900–1994, page 9
Further reading
Smyth, Constantine J. (1839). . London: Henry Butterworth.
External links
Attorney-General for Ireland, list of office holders 1835–1921, with links to their Hansard contributions; from millbanksystems.com