Patrick Segrave (died c.1610) was an Irish judge of the early seventeenth century, who was removed from office for numerous incidents of corruption.Smyth, Constantine Joseph ''Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland'' London Butterworths 1839 He was born at Killegland, now

Ashbourne, County Meath Ashbourne, historically called ''Killeglan'' or ''Kildeglan'' (), is a town in County Meath, Ireland. Located about 20 km north of Dublin and close to the M2 motorway, Ashbourne is a commuter town within Greater Dublin. In the 20 years b ...

, son of Richard Segrave, 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 List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

with gifts of hawks and horses for the Privy Council. 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" of bribery 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 Delahide family's lands at

Dunshaughlin Dunshaughlin ( or locally ) is a town in County Meath, Ireland. A commuter town for nearby Dublin, Dunshaughlin more than tripled in population (from 1,275 to 4,035 inhabitants) between the 1991 and 2016 censuses. History Foundation Dunshaugh ...

, 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 Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or 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 regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corru ...

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 ...

. Segrave was found guilty, removed from office by the Lord Deputy 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 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 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