Sir James Donnellan (c. 1588 – 1665) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, who became

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 ...

in 1660. He was unusual among the Irish judges of the time in being of Gaelic descent; and more remarkable in that his service as a judge under

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

did not disqualify him from service after the

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 be ...

Personal life

He was the third son of

Nehemiah Donnellan Nehemiah Donnellan (a.k.a. Fearganainm Ó Domhnalláin) (fl. c. 1560-1609) was Archbishop of Tuam. Background Donellan was born in the county of Galway, a son of Mael Sechlainn Ó Dónalláin, by his wife Sisly, daughter of William Ó Cellaigh o ...

Archbishop of Tuam The Archbishop of Tuam ( ; ga, Ard-Easpag Thuama) is an archbishop which takes its name after the town of Tuam in County Galway, Ireland. The title was used by the Church of Ireland until 1839, and is still in use by the Catholic Church. Histor ...

, and his wife Elizabeth O'Donnell. He married firstly Anne Barry, sister of

James Barry, 1st Baron Barry of Santry James Barry, 1st Baron Barry of Santry PC (Ire) (1603–1673) was an Irish lawyer, judge 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 Castle and his wife Marga ...

and secondly Sarah Wheeler, daughter of Jonas Wheeler,

Bishop of Ossory The Bishop of Ossory () is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient of Kingdom of Ossory in the Provinces of Ireland, Province of Leinster, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remain ...

and Martha Tucker, and widow of Matthew Tyrrell. By Sarah he was the father of

Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was the Baron (judge) who presided over the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). The Irish Court of Exchequer was a mirror of the equivalent court in England and was one of the four courts which sat in the buildin ...

and also of several daughters. Nemehiah Donnellan was the father of Anne Donnellan, who founded the Donnellan lectures in

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 ...

, and Katherine Donnellan, who married Robert Clayton, Bishop of Cork and Ross. James's principal residence was Rathswire,

County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Sovereign state, Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces o ...

. He is buried in

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 ( ...

Education

He had a distinguished career at

which he was later to represent 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 ...

. He was scholar in 1607, Bachelor of Arts in 1610, Fellow in 1612 and Master of Arts in 1613. He entered

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 ...

in 1616 and was called to the Bar in 1623. He entered the

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 ...

the same year and was Treasurer in 1639.

Career

He was elected to the House of Commons in 1634. In 1627 he became third justice of

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

and was promoted to the office of

Chief Justice of Connacht The Chief Justice of Connacht was the senior of the judges who assisted the Lord President of Connaught in judicial matters. Despite the Chief Justice's title, full judicial powers were vested in the Lord President, whose office was established in ...

in 1634. He owed the promotion to the goodwill of the

Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...

, the Earl of Strafford, who hoped, rather cynically, to appease the Old Irish faction by appointing a few "token" judges of Gaelic origin. He became a judge of the High Court in 1637, being made third justice of the

Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) The Court of Common Pleas was one of the principal courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. Common Pleas was one of the four courts of justice which gave the Four Courts in Dublin, which is still ...

Civil War

When the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

broke out Donnellan was initially a

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

; he had long been close to

Ulick Burke, 5th Earl of Clanricarde Ulick MacRichard Burke, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde, 5th Earl of Clanricarde, 2nd Earl of St Albans (; ; ; ; 1604, in London – July 1657, in Kent), was an Anglo-Irish nobleman who was involved in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Catholic Roy ...

in whom

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 ...

placed great trust. The King summoned Donnellan to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

to treat with the

Irish Confederacy Confederate Ireland, also referred to as the Irish Catholic Confederation, was a period of Irish Catholic self-government between 1642 and 1649, during the Eleven Years' War. Formed by Catholic aristocrats, landed gentry, clergy and military ...

.Ball p.337 After the defeat of the Royalist cause, according to

Henry Cromwell Henry Cromwell (20 January 1628 – 23 March 1674) was the fourth son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier, and an important figure in the Parliamentarian regime in Ireland. Biography Early life Henry Cromwell – the fourth son of Oli ...

, Donnellan became a faithful supporter of the new regime, diligently persecuting his former allies. He was one of four commissioners appointed to administrate justice in

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

in 1651. He served on the High Court of Justice in 1653, and returned to the Court of Common Pleas as its second Justice in 1655.Ball p.337

Chief Justice

On the face of it Donnellan's loyal service to Cromwell, combined with his Gaelic origins, should have debarred him from judicial office, especially one of the four highest offices, at the

James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde Lieutenant-General James FitzThomas Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, KG, PC (19 October 1610 – 21 July 1688), was a statesman and soldier, known as Earl of Ormond from 1634 to 1642 and Marquess of Ormond from 1642 to 1661. Following the failur ...

, the

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdo ...

, who personally chose the new judges, had no strong objection to men of Gaelic background, but did normally require a record of loyalty to the Crown. Ball suggests that while Donnellan's first wife Anne had been dead for many years he was still on friendly terms with her brother Lord Santry, now to be appointed

Lord Chief Justice of 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 i ...

, who used his influence on Donnellan's behalf. Donnellan was restored to Royal favour, made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

. He was, for the time, a very old man, and his health quickly failed: well before his death the English Government was thinking of replacing him, but Ormonde requested that they wait till the old man was actually dead.Ball p. 278 In the event he was still in office when he died in 1665.

References

*Ball, F. Elrington''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926 * ''Donnellan, James'', Terry Clavin, in ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'', pp. 392–93, Cambridge, 2009. *Kenny, Colum ''King's Inns and the Kingdom of Ireland'' Irish Academic Press Dublin 1992

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donnellan, James Politicians from County Galway Politicians from County Dublin 17th-century Irish judges 1580s births 1665 deaths People of Elizabethan Ireland 17th-century Irish politicians Irish Anglicans Chief Justices of the Irish Common Pleas Chief Justices of Connacht Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for Dublin University Date of birth unknown Alumni of King's Inns