Sir John Hely (born c. 1650 – died 7 April 1701) was an English-born judge in

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 ...

, who held office as

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 who was the founder of the prominent landowning Hely family of Foulkscourt Castle, Johnstown, County Kilkenny. The family is chiefly remembered for developing the village of Johnstown. He was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, eldest son of James Hely. 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 1670 and 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 1679.

Marriage

In 1685 he made a seemingly advantageous marriage to Meliora Gorges, younger daughter of the merchant Ferdinando Gorges of

Eye Manor Eye Manor, Eye, Herefordshire, England is a Carolean manor house dating from the late 17th century, and was built for Ferdinando Gorges. Noted for its interior plasterwork, the house is a Grade I listed building. History Ferdinando Gorges (c.1 ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, and his wife Meliora Hilliard. Gorges had supposedly made a fortune in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

, although there were many who claimed that he was simply a financial schemer (in modern parlance, a

confidence trickster A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...

) whose fortune was largely imaginary, and he was already in serious financial difficulties by 1685. Hely and Meliora had at least five children: their eldest son, George, was the founder of the Hely family of Foulkscourt House,

Johnstown, County Kilkenny Johnstown (), historically known as Coorthafooka ( gle, Cúirt an Phúca), is a small town in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Bypassed in December 2008 by the M8, the town lies at the junction of the R639, the R502 and the R435 regional roads. It ...

. They had at least three other sons, William, John and James: James was still a minor in 1717, when the brothers were involved in a lawsuit against their uncle Henry Gorges. Eye Manor - 2 - geograph

The Coningsby connection

Meliora's elder sister Barbara had married the rising young statesman

Thomas Coningsby, 1st Earl Coningsby Thomas Coningsby, 1st Earl Coningsby PC (2 November 1656 – 1 May 1729) of Hampton Court Castle, Herefordshire, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times from 1679 until 1716 when he was created a peer and sat ...

in 1675. Barbara's marriage to Thomas was notoriously unhappy, partly due to her father's ill-advised financial schemes which involved Thomas in disastrous losses, and ended in

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

. Nonetheless, Hely's rise to high office was almost certainly due to the Coningsby connection: Coningsby's biographer suggests that Hely was sent to Ireland to strengthen Coningsby's power base in

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 ...

Judicial career

He was appointed

in 1690 on the recommendation of Coningsby, who had been appointed one of the

Lord Justices (Ireland) The Lords Justices (more formally the Lords Justices General and General Governors of Ireland) were deputies who acted collectively in the absence of the chief governor of Ireland (latterly the Lord Lieutenant) as head of the executive branch o ...

, which gave him a considerable degree of control over the Irish administration. Hely arrived in Ireland the following year, joined the

King's Inns 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 ...

and was

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 ...

in 1692. He held the office of Commissioner of Revenue Appeals at the same time. He lived at Stephen Street in

city and had a country house at Ballygall near

Finglas Finglas (; ) is a northwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It lies close to Junction 5 of the M50 motorway, and the N2 road. Nearby suburbs include Glasnevin and Ballymun; Dublin Airport is to the north. Finglas lies mainly in the posta ...

in west County Dublin. Either Sir John, or his eldest son George Hely of Foulkscourt House, began laying out the village of Johnstown in County Kilkenny. It is his son John, though, who Johnstown is named after. The location of the centre of Johnstown was formerly known as Hely's Cross or Healy's Cross. John obtained a grant of the old Purcell estate at Foulkscourt in 1697. He was a member of the

Dublin Philosophical Society The Dublin Philosophical Society was founded in 1683 by William Molyneux with the assistance of his brother Sir Thomas Molyneux and the future Provost and Bishop St George Ashe. It was intended to be the equivalent of the Royal Society in Lond ...

. In 1695 Hely 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 ...

. He acted 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 ...

in 1696–7.

Death

Within a few years, despite his relative youth, his health failed. In 1701, although he felt well enough to travel on the spring

assizes The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

, he fell ill at

Ennis Ennis () is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

and died "after two days sickness" at the house of Mr David England, who was later paid £3 by the Crown for caring for him. Burke suggests that Hely, like many judges of the time, found that the strain of going on assize (in particular enduring the ordeal of the notoriously bad Irish roads) was too much for his constitution to bear. About 1698 the Irish-born writer and publisher

John Dunton John Dunton (4 May 1659 – 1733) was an English bookseller and author. In 1691 he founded The Athenian Society to publish '' The Athenian Mercury'', the first major popular periodical and first miscellaneous periodical in England. In 1693, for ...

, on a visit to Dublin, gave a sketch of the Irish judiciary and praised most of them, including Hely, as "men of such reputation that no one complains of them". On the other hand, Ball cynically notes that the general reaction to the news of his sudden death was not so much grief as widespread interest in who would be appointed to fill his place. His widow remarried James de Lestrille: they were named as co-defendants in her sons' lawsuit against her brother Henry in 1717.National Archives C11/1396/19

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hely, John 1701 deaths English barristers Medical doctors from London Members of the Privy Council of Ireland 17th-century Anglo-Irish people Year of birth uncertain Chief Barons of the Irish Exchequer Chief Justices of the Irish Common Pleas