Attiwell Wood (1728-1784) was an Irish politician, barrister and Law Officer of the eighteenth century.

Background

He was a native of

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

. He was born into a family which had a long association with the town of Bandon; an earlier Attiwell Wood, probably his grandfather, was a member of Bandon Corporation in 1702. There is reason to believe that the eldest son in each generation of the Wood family was named Attiwell, and the tradition continued up to the late nineteenth century.

Career

He entered the

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

in 1744 and the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1747. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1753. He became Third

Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) This is a list of lawyers who held the rank of serjeant-at-law at the Irish Bar. Origins of the office of serjeant The first recorded serjeant was Roger Owen, who was appointed between 1261 and 1266, although the title itself was not commonly ...

in 1777 and was made Second Serjeant in 1779; he held the latter office until his death. He sat in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...

as member for

Castlemartyr Castlemartyr (, formerly anglicised as ''Ballymarter'' or ''Ballymartyr'') is a village in County Cork, Ireland. It is located 25 minutes east of Cork city, 10 km (6 mi) east of Midleton, 16 km (10 mi) west of Youghal and 6& ...

from 1769 to 1776, and for

Clonakilty Clonakilty (; ), sometimes shortened to Clon, is a town in County Cork, Ireland. The town is located at the head of the tidal Clonakilty Bay. The rural hinterland is used mainly for dairy farming. The town's population as of 2016 was 4,592. Th ...

from 1776 to 1783. He died in March of the following year.

Marriage and children

He married Elizabeth Falkiner, daughter of Sir Riggs Falkiner, 1st Baronet and his first wife Mary Barker.Burke Vol.1 p. 1380 Sir Riggs represented the same two constituencies in reverse order: presumably he and his son-in-law did a "swap" as to which seat each would hold. Attiwell and Elizabeth had at least one son, also named Attiwell, who married Mary Brasier, daughter of Kilner Brasier, and a daughter Louisa, who married Hugh Norcott (died 1834) JP, of

Castleconnell Castleconnell (, historically ''Caisleán Uí Chonaing'') is a village in County Limerick on the banks of the River Shannon. It is from Limerick city and near the boundaries of counties Clare and Tipperary. History The ruins of the ' Castle ...

and Springfield,

County Limerick "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Ireland, Province , subd ...

. Louisa died in 1839; she and Hugh had no children. A later Attiwell Wood, who was probably the Serjeant's great-grandson, is recorded as a landowner in County Cork in the 1870s.

References

*Bennett, George, ''The History of Bandon'' Henry and Coghlan 1862 *''Burke's Peerage'' 107th Edition Delaware 2003 *Hart, A.R. ''History of the King's Serjeants at law in Ireland'' Dublin Four Courts Press 2000 *Smyth, Joseph Constantine "Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland" Henry Butterworths London 1839 *White, James Grove ''Historical and topographical notes on Buttevant, Castletownroche, Doneraile, Mallow and places in their vicinity'', Guy and Co. Cork 1905

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Attiwell 1728 births 1784 deaths Politicians from County Cork Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cork constituencies Irish MPs 1769–1776 Irish MPs 1776–1783 Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Year of birth uncertain Serjeants-at-law (Ireland) People from Bandon, County Cork Lawyers from County Cork