Patrick Segrave (died c.1610) was an Irish

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 ...

of the early seventeenth century, who was removed from office for numerous incidents of

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

.Smyth, Constantine Joseph ''Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland'' London Butterworths 1839 He was born at Killegland, now Ashbourne, County Meath, son of

Richard Segrave Richard Segrave (c.1540–1598) was an Irish judge, remembered chiefly for sitting in judgement on his colleague Nicholas Nugent, who was the only Irish judge ever to be hanged for treason by the Government which appointed him. Family He was th ...

, 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 ...

who was head of a prominent landowning family. Little is known of his mother. He married before 1589 Mary Dillon, daughter of Chief Justice Robert Dillon and his second wife Catherine Sarsfield. In 1589 his father-in-law sent him to

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 ...

with gifts of hawks and horses for the

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 ...

. On his father's death in 1598 Patrick was appointed to his place as a Baron of the Exchequer. He was charged in 1602 with "diverse causes (cases)" of

bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...

and corruption, and stood trial before the

Court of Castle Chamber The Court of Castle Chamber (which was sometimes simply called ''Star Chamber'') was an Irish court of special jurisdiction which operated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was established by Queen Elizabeth I in 1571 to deal with ca ...

, the Irish equivalent of

Star Chamber The Star Chamber (Latin: ''Camera stellata'') was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late to the mid-17th century (c. 1641), and was composed of Privy Counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judic ...

. The Delahide family's lands at Dunshaughlin, County Meath had been forfeited to the Crown for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

. Segrave was accused of conspiring with Richard Read and David Russell to procure a jury to find the title to the land (i.e. award the title) in favour of Read, and of receiving a large bribe in return; he was also charged with attempting to bribe Sir Richard Cooke, the

Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland The Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland and a member of the Dublin Castle administration under the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Kingdom of Ireland. In early times the title was sometimes given as Ch ...

. Segrave was found guilty, removed from office by 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 ...

, fined £1000 and imprisoned at the pleasure of the Crown. His disgrace was not permanent: in 1607 he was admitted to 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 became a member of its governing council. He attended meetings of the council until 1610, after which his name disappears from the records. The Patrick Segrave of Killeglan whose estates were forfeited for his part in the

Irish Rebellion of 1641 The Irish Rebellion of 1641 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1641) was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantatio ...

was probably his son or grandson.

References

People from Ashbourne, County Meath 17th-century deaths Year of birth unknown People of Elizabethan Ireland Barons of the Irish Exchequer Lawyers from County Meath 16th-century Irish judges 17th-century Irish judges {{Ireland-law-bio-stub