John Richards PC (1790 – 1872) was an Irish lawyer and judge.

Early life

Richards was born in 1790 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 ...

, the younger son of John Nunn Richards (died 1821),

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

, and his first wife Elizabeth Fitzgerald, daughter of Oliver Fitzgerald. His father's family originally came from Rathaspick, County Wexford, and his father had a country house at nearby Hermitage. The Richards family of Macmine Castle, Wexford, were close relatives. He graduated from the

University of Dublin The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

Career

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 1811, and became

King's Counsel 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 ...

in 1830. He was a protégé of

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

, and in later years recalled with gratitude O'Connell, coming to his assistance in a case where the judges would not hear him: O'Connell argued the case on his behalf with frequent references to what "Mr. Richards would have said if he had been permitted to". Richards never ceased to praise O'Connell's "ability and perseverance". Like O'Connell, he was a staunch supporter of

Catholic Emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...

. He was appointed a judge at

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

(now Chennai) in India in 1835 but resigned that office in order to become

Solicitor-General for Ireland The Solicitor-General for Ireland was the holder of an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office. The holder was a deputy to the Attorney-General for Ireland, and advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. On rar ...

in the same year, and 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 ...

the following year. He was appointed a 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 ...

in 1837 and held that office until 1859; he also served as a judge of the Encumbered Estates Court.

Family and personal life

Richards married firstly in 1815 Catherine Moloney, daughter of Henry Gonne Moloney, barrister, of

Tulla Tulla () is a market town in County Clare, Ireland. It is situated in the east of the county, on the R462 and near its junction with the R352, 18km from Ennis. Etymology Tulla is generally translated as ''An Tulach'', meaning "round hill". ...

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

, and his wife Caroline Walker, by whom he had seven children, three sons and four daughters: John, William, Oswald, Elizabeth who married a Mr. Rolleston, Catherine who married Thomas Spunner, Charlotte who married a Mr. Symes, and Henrietta-Caroline, who married Robert King Piers, nephew of Sir Robert King, 2nd Baronet of the King Baronets, of Charlestown, in 1844. He married secondly in 1832 Christiana O'Brien, daughter of Christopher James O'Brien, but had no further issue. His eldest son John became a

County Court A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...

judge. One of the younger John's sons, Sir Henry George Richards, also became a judge, serving as Chief Justice of the

Allahabad High Court Allahabad High Court, also known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is the high court based in Prayagraj that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 17 March 1866, making it one of the oldest high ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, from 1911 to 1919. He was elected a member of the

Royal Dublin Society The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) ( ga, Cumann Ríoga Bhaile Átha Cliath) is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economi ...

in 1831. In Dublin he lived in

Dalkey Dalkey ( ; ) is an affluent suburb of Dublin, and a seaside resort southeast of the city, and the town of Dún Laoghaire, in the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown in the historic County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded as a Viking settlement ...

, and later Dundrum, and he also had a country house in

. Ball describes him as one of the finest Irish judges of his time.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, John 1790 births 1872 deaths Irish barristers Solicitors-General for Ireland Attorneys-General for Ireland Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Barons of the Irish Exchequer