Lords Justices of Ireland

The Lord Justice of Ireland was an ancient senior position in the governance of Ireland, held by a number of important personages, such as the Earl of Kildare.

In the later centuries of British rule the Lords Justices were three office-holders in the Kingdom of Ireland who in the absence of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland fulfilled the social and political duties of the Viceroy as head of the Irish executive.

The office-holders were usually:

• Church of Ireland primate, the Archbishop of Armagh
• Lord Chancellor of Ireland
• Speaker of the Irish House of Commons

Among their duties was to welcome the incoming Lord Lieutenant when he arrived in state in the port of Dublin, having travelled from Great Britain to take up his post.

The decision in 1765 of the government of Great Britain to require the viceroy to be a full-time resident in Ireland, rather than just pay visits during sessions of parliament, removed the need for the Lords Justices, while the abolition of the Parliament of Ireland in 1800 meant that there was no longer a speaker of the House of Commons to serve as a Lord Justice.

Lord Justices

• Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath (in office in 1172)
• Hamo de Valois (in office in 1197)
• Gerald FitzWilliam FitzGerald, Lord Offaly (d. 1205)
• Maurice FitzGerald FitzGerald, Lord Offaly (1229 – c.1248 )
• Stephen de Longuespee (d. 1260 in office)
• David O'Barry, 1st Viscount of Buttevant (d. 1278) 'Appointed 1267'
• Sir James Audley (d. 23 June 1272 in office)
• Maurice FitzMaurice Fitzgerald (d. 1286) (July 1272 – )
• William de Vescy (12 September 1290 – 1294)
• Thomas FitzMaurice FitzGerald, Lord Offaly (d. 1296) (April to October 1295)
• John Logan (18 October 1295 – )
• Sir Maurice Rochfort 1302
• Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March (1285 – 1330) Justiciar of Ireland
• Thomas FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Kildare (d. 1328) (1320 – 1328)
• Sir John Darcy (1329 – still in office in 1335)
• Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond (d. January 1356) (July 1355 – Jan 1356)
• James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormonde (4 October 1331 – 18 October 1382) (In office 1359, 1364, and 1376.)
• Gerald Fitzgerald, 4th Earl of Desmond (k. 1397) (1367 – )
• Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Kildare (1454, 1461-1470)
• Sir Francis Bryan, Knight-Marshal, (d. 2 February 1549 in office)
• Sir Thomas Cusack, Lord Chancellor of Ireland in office 1552)
• Arthur Forbes, 1st Earl of Granard (1623 – 1695) (in office 1671 and 1673)
• Sir Richard Nagle (1636 - 1699) (in office 1689)
• Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway (1648 - 1720), in office 1697 - 1701
• Constantine Phipps (Lord Chancellor of Ireland) (in office 1710)
• Richard Ingoldsby (died 1712) (in office 1710)
• Robert FitzGerald, 19th Earl of Kildare (1714)

See also

• Lord Deputy of Ireland
• Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
• Lord Chancellor of Ireland
• Lord Chief Justice of Ireland

References

• Lodge, John, Archdall, Mervyn, A.M., The Peerage of Ireland, Dublin, 1789.