Patrick Finglas
Patrick Finglas (died 1537) was a leading Irish judge of the sixteenth century, who was regarded as a mainstay of the English Crown in Ireland. He was also the author of an influential "Breviat " or tract, Of the Getting of Ireland, and of the Decay of the same, concerning the decline of English power in Ireland.
Little is known of his parentage, but Francis Elrington Ball states that he came from a long established family who took their surname from Finglas, County Dublin. He later held estates at Piercetown, near Dunboyne, County Meath, and at Westphailstown in County Dublin. He was at Lincoln's Inn 1503-6 and became Serjeant in 1509. He was considered one of the ablest lawyers of his time and a gifted writer.
Finglas was appointed Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer by Henry VIII in 1520, and afterwards, by patent dated at Westminster 8 May 1534 [1] he was constituted Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland in the place of Sir Bartholomew Dillon, recently deceased. He resigned the latter office in 1535,[2] and later served a second term as Chief Baron until his death in 1537. He was a member of the Privy Council of Ireland.
He wrote A Breviat (summary) of the getting (conquest) of Ireland, and of the Decaie (decay) of the same.[3] An original manuscript of this work is in the Public Record Office [4] It is described in the calendar as "An Historical Dissertation on the Conquest of Ireland, the decay of that land, and measures proposed to remedy the grievances thereof arising from the oppressions of the Irish nobility".
The measures proposed included settlement of the province of Leinster by "English lords and gentlemen", the securing of castles and other strong places, and more controversially, the suppression of all monasteries which he regarded as potential centres of rebellion. He did not urge the expulsion of the native Irish people, arguing that they would be a useful element in society if properly governed.[5] The "Breviat" probably built on an earlier treatise, "The Decay of Ireland", by Sir William Darcy, the long-serving Vice-Treasurer of Ireland.
Finglas was regarded by the English Crown as one of the principal supporters of its rule in Ireland; in 1520 the Lord Deputy of Ireland, the Earl of Surrey, praised him to Cardinal Wolsey as one of "the best willed and most diligent to do the King's Grace true and faithful service of all the learned men of this land."[6]
He married Isabella Golding, daughter of Robert Golding of Churchtown, Dublin. Their daughter and heiress, Genet, married Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam and had four children: they were the grandparents of Thomas FitzWilliam, 1st Viscount FitzWilliam.
References
- ^ Mary Ann Lyons 'Finglas, Patrick', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [accessed 21 December 2011:http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9458]
- ^ Mary Ann Lyons 'Finglas, Patrick', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [accessed 21 December 2011:http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9458]
- ^ Printed in Harris's 'Hibernica,' edit. 1770, i. 79-103.
- ^ State Papers, Henry VIII, Ireland, vol. xii. art.7.
- ^ Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926
- ^ Ball Judges in Ireland
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Finglas, Patrick". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.