Barry Yelverton, 1st Viscount Avonmore, PC (Ire) KC (28 May 1736 – 19 August 1805), was an Irish judge and politician, who gave his name to Yelverton's Act 1782, which effectively repealed Poynings' Law and thus restored the independence of the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two cham ...

. This achievement was destroyed by the Act of Union 1800, which Yelverton supported. By doing so, he gravely harmed his reputation for integrity, which had already been damaged by his leading role in the conviction and execution for treason of the United Irishman William Orr, which is now seen as a major

miscarriage of justice A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Inno ...

Early life

He was the eldest son of Francis Yelverton of

Kanturk Kanturk () is a town in the north west of County Cork, Ireland. It is situated at the confluence of the Allua (Allow) and Dallow (Dalua) rivers, which stream further on as tributaries to the River Blackwater. It is about from Cork, Blarney and ...

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 ...

, and Elizabeth Barry, daughter of Jonas Barry of Kilbrin (now

Ballyclogh, County Cork BallycloghBallyclogh/Baile Cloch

Charleville Charleville can refer to: Australia * Charleville, Queensland, a town in Australia **Charleville railway station, Queensland France * Charleville, Marne, a commune in Marne, France *Charleville-Mézières, a commune in Ardennes, France ** ...

and

Midleton College Midleton College is an independent co-educational boarding and day school in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland. In past centuries it has also been called Midleton School. Although founded in 1696, the school did not open until 1717. It went thr ...

, and attended

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 ...

, where he took a degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1757 and of Bachelor of Laws in 1761. His family lacked wealth and social positionBall, p. 166. and he was for some years an assistant master under Andrew Buck in the Hibernian Academy. This menial occupation was later a source of great embarrassment to him, as his enemies loved to ridicule him as "Buck's usher". In 1761, he married Mary Nugent (died 1802), daughter of William Nugent of Clonlost, County Westmeath, and his wife Ursula Aglionby, a lady of some fortune, and was thus enabled to read for the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...

, entering 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 an ...

. He was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1764: despite his lack of family connections his success in his profession was rapid, due to his legal ability, charm and remarkable eloquence, and he

took silk In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or a ...

eight years afterwards.

M.P.

He was elected to 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 fra ...

as member for Donegal Borough from 1774 to 1776. In the latter year, Yelverton was elected for both

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

and

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...

. He chose to sit for the latter constituency and represented Carrickfergus until 1784. Although few examples of his oratory survive, all contemporaries agree on his eloquence, which gave him a dominant position in the Commons.

Judicial career

He became

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 ...

in 1782, and was elevated to the bench as

Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who pre ...

in 1783. He was created Baron Yelverton in 1795, and in 1800 Viscount Avonmore in the

Peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

. As Chief Baron he led the opposition to the proposal to increase the number of judges in each of the

courts of common law A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

from three to four, on the practical ground that four-judge courts often divide evenly and thus cannot reach an effective decision. Despite this common-sense view, the new judges were eventually appointed.

William Orr

In 1797 he attained a degree of infamy for presiding over what was widely regarded as a "show trial" which led to the execution of the

United Irishman ''The United Irishman'' was an Irish nationalist newspaper co-founded by Arthur Griffith and William Rooney.Arthur Griffith ...

, William Orr (although Yelverton is said to have shed tears when passing the death sentence on Orr). Orr was charged with administering the United Irish oath to a soldier called Hugh Wheatly; this had recently become a capital offence. In fact, it was generally believed that another man, William McKeever, administered the oath. Wheatly, who was the principal witness for the prosecution, later confessed that he had perjured himself, but despite a superb defence by

John Philpot Curran John Philpot Curran (24 July 1750 – 14 October 1817) was an Irish orator, politician, wit, lawyer and judge, who held the office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland. He was renowned for his representation in 1780 of Father Neale, a Catholic prie ...

, Orr was found guilty and hanged. Yelverton may have formed an early impression of Orr's guilt and acted on it - even his admirers admitted that as a judge he lacked impartiality. Peter Finnerty, a journalist, was later convicted of seditious libel for publishing an attack on Yelverton over his conduct of Orr's trial: this did nothing to enhance the judge's reputation.

Death

He died in 1805 at his mansion, Fortfield House,

Terenure Terenure (), originally called ''Roundtown'', is an affluent, middle class suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It is located in the city's D6W postcode area. Location and transport Terenure lies primarily in the administrative area of Dublin City ...

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

, which he had built at great expense around 1785.

Personality

To his colleagues at the Irish bar, Yelverton was a popular and charming companion: even

, despite their frequent courtroom clashes, seems to have liked Yelverton personally. Curran and Yelverton were co-founders of the popular drinking club called The Monks of the Screw. Being a man of insignificant physical appearance, he owed his early successes to his remarkable eloquence, which made a great impression on his contemporaries; as a judge, he was inclined to take the view of the advocate rather than that of the impartial lawyer. Ball considered him one of the most learned judges of his time. While Edward Cooke called him "a brute", this simply reflects Cooke's low opinion of all the Irish judges of his time Sir Jonah Barrington wrote that for all Yelverton's faults, and his lack of any real moral code, it was impossible not to like and respect him.

Politician

He gave his support to

Henry Grattan Henry Grattan (3 July 1746 – 4 June 1820) was an Irish politician and lawyer who campaigned for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century from Britain. He was a Member of the Irish Parliament (MP) from 1775 to 18 ...

and the Whigs during the greater part of his parliamentary career. He was a strong supporter of the demand for an independent Irish Parliament, but later changed his stance.

Yelverton's Act

He played a crucial role in the reforms which are collectively called the Irish

Constitution of 1782 The Constitution of 1782 was a group of Acts passed by the Parliament of Ireland and the Parliament of Great Britain in 1782–83 which increased the legislative and judicial independence of the Kingdom of Ireland by reducing the ability of ...

. In particular he sponsored the ''Act 21 and 22 of George III, An Act to regulate the manner of passing bills and to prevent delays in summoning of Parliaments''- which was popularly known as "Yelverton's Act". This radically modified Poynings' Law of 1495 by which all legislation to be passed by the Irish Parliament had to be drafted by the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

, then sent to the English

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

for approval. Under Yelverton's Act, the role of the Irish Privy Council was abolished and legislation was commenced in the normal way in the Irish Parliament, which for the last 17 years of its existence enjoyed a wide measure of independence.

Act of Union

In his latter days he became identified with the court party and voted for the Act of Union 1800, for which his

viscounty A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

was a reward. For this he was never forgiven by many of his former friends. Sir Jonah Barrington, who continued to regard Yelverton with affection and respect, regretted that this action should have destroyed his reputation forever; but he argued that such a mistake of judgment was understandable in a man who lacked worldly wisdom, and despite his many good qualities, did not have a strong moral sense. He became a member of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...

in 1787.

Family

He had three sons and one daughter, and the title descended in the family. Children of Barry Yelverton and Mary Nugent: *Hon. William Charles Yelverton, 2nd Viscount Avonmore (5 April 1762 – 28 November 1814) *Hon. Barry Yelverton (22 November 1763 – June 1824) *Hon. Walter Aglionby Yelverton (26 January 1772 – 3 June 1824), married 1791, Cecilia Yelverton *Hon. Anna Maria Yelverton (28 September 1775 – 27 April 1865), married 1791,

John Bingham, 1st Baron Clanmorris John Bingham, 1st Baron Clanmorris (1762 – May 1821) was an Ireland, Irish Peerage, peer. Bingham was the son of Henry Bingham and his wife Letitia (née Daly). He was elected to the Irish House of Commons for Tuam (Parliament of Ireland consti ...

of Newbrook

References

* *; Endnotes: **Webb's Compendium; Ryan's Biographia Hibernica, ii. 640 **Wills's Illustrious Irishmen, v. 237 **Barrington's Historic Sketches, and Personal Sketches **O'Flanagan's Irish Bar, pp. 52–63, and Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland, vol. ii. passim **Lord Ashbourne's Pitt; Curran's Life, by his Son, i. 118–32 **Phillip's Curran and his Contemporaries, pp. 92–108 **Duhiggs's History of the King's Inns **Irish Political Characters, 1799 **Smyth's Law Officers of Ireland **Todd's Graduates of Dublin University **G. E. C kaynes Complete Peerage ** F. Elrington Ball The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921 {{DEFAULTSORT:Avonmore, Barry Yelverton, 1st Viscount 1736 births 1805 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Yelverton, Barry Yelverton, Barry Members of the Middle Temple People from Kanturk Yelverton, Barry Yelverton, Barry Yelverton, Barry Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Peers of Ireland created by George III Chief Barons of the Irish Exchequer Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Donegal constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for Belfast Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Antrim constituencies Members of the Royal Irish Academy People educated at Midleton College Barry 1