James Barry, 1st Baron Barry of Santry PC (Ire) (1603–1673) was an Irish lawyer,

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

and peer.

Early life

Barry was the son of Richard Barry and his wife Anne Cusacke; Anne was the daughter of John Cusacke of

Rathgar Rathgar (), is a suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It was originally a village which from 1862 was part of the township of Rathmines and Rathgar; it was absorbed by the growing city and became a suburb in 1930. It lies about three kilometres south of ...

Castle and his wife Margaret Gough (née Allen). His father and both his grandfathers were wealthy merchants of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, his grandfather James Barry having been

Sheriff of Dublin City Sheriff of Dublin City was a judicial and administrative role in Ireland. Initially, the Sovereign's judicial representative in Dublin, the role was later held by two individuals and concerned with a mix of judicial, political and administrative ...

, while his father was

Lord Mayor of Dublin The Lord Mayor of Dublin ( ga, Ardmhéara Bhaile Átha Cliath) is the honorary title of the chairperson ( ga, Cathaoirleach, links=no ) of Dublin City Council which is the local government body for the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. Th ...

(1610–11) and representative 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 fra ...

for

(1613–15). His maternal grandfather

John Cusacke John Cusacke (died 1626) was a wealthy merchant, landowner and local politician in seventeenth-century Dublin, who served as both Mayor and Sheriff of Dublin city. He was born in County Meath, eldest of the ten children of Patrick Cusacke of Bal ...

had also been Mayor from 1608–1609. Nicholas Kerdiffe, a senior Law Officer, married his aunt. He married Catharine Parsons (daughter of Sir William Parsons and Elizabeth Lany), by whom he had four sons and four daughters, including Richard, his heir, and Dorothy, who married Sir John Feilding, secretary to the

Governor of Jamaica This is a list of viceroys in Jamaica from its initial occupation by Spain in 1509, to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. For a list of viceroys after independence, see Governor-General of Jamaica. For context, see History of Jamai ...

. His favourite sister Anne married

James Donnellan Sir James Donnellan (c. 1588 – 1665) was an Irish lawyer and politician, who became Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas in 1660. He was unusual among the Irish judges of the time in being of Gaelic descent; and more remarkable in that hi ...

, later

Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas The chief justice of the Common Pleas for Ireland was the presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland, which was known in its early years as the Court of Common Bench, or simply as "the Bench", or "the Dublin bench". It was one of the s ...

, but died young: her brother and her husband remained close throughout their lives. Adam Cusack, Chief Justice of Connacht, was a cousin in the next generation of James on his mother's side. He graduated from

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 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, on 27 April 1621 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(B.A.). He gained a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

(M.A.) from Trinity College, Dublin, in June 1624.

Career

He was admitted to

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

on 11 July 1621. In 1628 he served as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, and he was appointed

Recorder of Dublin Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * '' Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a new ...

. Other appointments included Prime Sergeant, 6 October 1629. He was admitted to

King's Inn The Honorable Society of King's Inns ( ir, Cumann Onórach Óstaí an Rí) is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environment ...

, 15 April 1630, (he served twice as its treasurer) and was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Lismore in 1634. He became second Baron of the

Court of Exchequer (Ireland) The Court of Exchequer (Ireland) or the Irish Exchequer of Pleas, was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was the mirror image of the equivalent court in England. The Court of Exchequer was one of the four royal courts of justic ...

, 5 August 1634, through the influence of Lord Wentworth. He published in 1637, at the request of Lord Wentworth, to whom he dedicated it, ''The Case of Tenures upon the Commission of Defective Titles, argued by all the Judges of Ireland, with the Resolution and the Reasons of their Resolution'', a crucial test case from the Crown's point of view. In 1640 he used what influence he had, but in vain, with

Sir James Ware Sir James Ware (26 November 1594 – 1 December 1666) was an Irish historian. Personal details Born at Castle Street, Dublin on 26 November 1594, James Ware was the eldest son of Sir James Ware (1568–1632) and Mary Bryden, daughter of Ambrose ...

and other members of the

, to prevent their sending a committee of their body to England to impeach the

Earl of Strafford Earl of Strafford is a title that has been created three times in English and British history. The first creation was in the Peerage of England in January 1640 for Thomas Wentworth, the close advisor of King Charles I. He had already succe ...

, as Wentworth now was. History says nothing of his life for the next twenty years. He was chairman of the Royalist Convention, 7 July 1659. This met at Dublin in defiance of the government. It voted for the unconditional

Restoration of Charles II The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to b ...

. In November 1660, "in consideration of his many good services to

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

and his eminent loyalty to Charles II", he became

Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...

, and

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a privy council, formal body of advisers to the British monarchy, sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises Politics of the United King ...

. He was appointed a commissioner to execute the King's Declaration which ultimately led to the

Act of Settlement 1662 The Act of Settlement 1662 was passed by the Irish Parliament in Dublin. It was a partial reversal of the Cromwellian Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652, which punished Irish Catholics and Royalists for fighting against the English Parliam ...

. He was accused, rather obscurely, of being "a cold friend" to the Declaration, and this, as well as his increasing infirmity, was one of the "material objections" which led to his being rejected as Speaker of the

Irish House of Lords The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until 1800. It was also the final court of appeal of the Kingdom of Ireland. It was modelled on the House of Lords of England, with membe ...

. However, he did sit on the Lords Committee to consider the state of the Irish

coinage Coinage may refer to: * Coins, standardized as currency * Neologism, coinage of a new word * '' COINage'', numismatics magazine * Tin coinage, a tax on refined tin * Protologism ''Protologism'' is a term coined in 2003 by the American literary ...

. As Treasurer and Council member of the King's Inns he was accused of being dilatory and inefficient, perhaps as a result of the "infirmity" referred to above.

Ennoblement

He was created 1st Baron Barry of

Santry Santry () is a suburb on the northside of Dublin, Ireland, bordering Coolock, Glasnevin, Kilmore and Ballymun. It straddles the boundary of Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council jurisdictions. The character of the area has changed ...

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 ...

on 18 February 1661. His residence was at Santry. His portrait is the oldest now in the possession of the King's Inns.

Death

He died on 9 February 1673 and was buried on 14 February 1673 in St. Mary's Chapel,

Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the ecclesiastical province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the ( ...

. His eldest son Richard succeeded as second Baron Barry. The fourth and last Baron was a notorious

murderer Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

: the title became extinct on his death in 1751.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Barry Of Santry, James Barry, 1st Baron 1603 births 1673 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Barons in the Peerage of Ireland Peers of Ireland created by Charles II Irish barristers Politicians from County Dublin Members of Lincoln's Inn Barry, James Members of the Privy Council of Ireland 17th-century Irish people Lords chief justice of Ireland Recorders of Dublin Serjeants-at-law (Ireland)