Richard Bettesworth (1689-1741) was an Irish politician, Law Officer and barrister of the early eighteenth century. He was a quarrelsome individual, and his list of enemies included

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dubl ...

, the

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

George Faulkner and

Josiah Hort Josiah Hort (c. 1674 – 14 December 1751), was an English clergyman of the Church of Ireland who ended his career as archbishop of Tuam. Born in Marshfield, Gloucestershire, son of John Hort, and brought up as a Nonconformist, Hort went to sch ...

, Bishop of Kilmore and future

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 ...

. He was born in

Midleton Midleton (; , meaning "monastery at the weir") is a town in south-eastern County Cork, Ireland. It lies approximately 16 km east of Cork City on the Owenacurra River and the N25 road, which connects Cork to the port of Rosslare. A satellit ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

in 1689 and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He may have been a son or grandson of Thomas Bettesworth, who was appointed one of the original

burgess __NOTOC__ Burgess may refer to: People and fictional characters * Burgess (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Burgess (given name), a list of people Places * Burgess, Michigan, an unincorporated community * Burgess, Missouri, U ...

es of the town of Midleton in 1672, shortly after it received its

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...

from

King Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...

. Richard entered the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1710, was called to the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...

in 1716, and

took silk 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 a ...

in 1728. He entered 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 fran ...

, sitting for

Thomastown Thomastown (), historically known as Grennan, is a town in County Kilkenny in the province of Leinster in the south-east of Ireland. It is a market town along a stretch of the River Nore which is known for its salmon and trout, with a number o ...

1721-7 and for

from 1727 to his death. He was appointed second Serjeant-at-law at the Irish Bar in 1732.

Quarrel with Jonathan Swift

Bettesworth was the subject of numerous jeering satires by his enemies. Foremost among these was Jonathan Swift. From the early 1730s Bettesworth, who was a

Nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...

in religion, was strongly associated with the

anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

party in the Irish House of Commons, who supported moves which were likely to weaken the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

, and in particular, pressed for the reduction of agricultural

tithes A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

. Swift, as a result, attacked Bettesworth in a vicious anonymous satire "The Booby Bettesworth". Swift attacked Bettesworth's apparent ignorance of the law, stating that he was one "who knows in law nor text, nor margent (margin)". Swift also commented on his inability to make any money from his legal practice, and ridiculed Bettesworth's way of pronouncing his name "Bett-es-worth", and his habit of referring to all his acquaintances as "brother", a common practice among Nonconformists at the time. He was particularly scathing about any comparison between Bettesworth and his "brother" (i.e. fellow Serjeant-at-law) Henry Singleton, whom Swift greatly admired. Bettesworth, infuriated, is said to have spent £1200 on trying to discover the author. He called on Swift at his home, demanded he admit his authorship, and according to Swift threatened him with "revenge". Swift said that Bettesworth, who had himself some claim to be a poet, threatened simply to use his pen, but some of Swift's friends claimed that Bettesworth threatened to stab him, or, according to

Laetitia Pilkington Laetitia Pilkington (born Laetitia van Lewen; ''c.'' 1709 – 29 July 1750) was an Anglo-Irish poet. She is known for her ''Memoirs'' which document much of what is known about Jonathan Swift. Life Early years Laetitia was born of two dist ...

, to cut his ears off, and his friends pledged to defend him against attack. Swift, undeterred, published a further satire on Bettesworth: "The Yahoo's Overthrow". His antipathy to Bettesworth and another old enemy, Richard Tighe, MP for Newtownards and member of the Privy Council of Ireland ("that puppy pair of Dicks" as Swift called them), did not lessen with the years.Scott 1829 Vol.2 p.281

Quarrel with Bishop Hort

Josiah Hort,

Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh The Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh was the Ordinary of the Church of Ireland diocese of Kilmore and Ardagh in the Province of Armagh. The Diocese of Kilmore composed most of County Cavan and parts of counties Leitrim, Fermanagh, Meath and Sli ...

, a former enemy of Swift but now on friendly terms with him, also wrote a satire on Bettesworth, "A new proposal for the better regulation and improvement of quadrille". He proposed that all disputes about the popular card game

quadrille The quadrille is a dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six '' contredanses''. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of opera melodie ...

be referred to Betteswworth for arbitration, but, since Bettesworth's judgment was not much regarded, Hort humorously suggested that there be a right of appeal to the "Upright Man", a wooden figure which hung in Essex Street in Dublin city centre, which, Hort remarked, could proudly boast that it had never given a corrupt judgment. It was printed by Swift's publisher

George Faulkner George Faulkner (c. 1703 – 30 August 1775) was one of the most important Irish publishers and booksellers. He forged a publishing relationship with Jonathan Swift and parlayed that fame into an extensive trade. He was also deeply involved with ...

. Faulkner was committed to prison for libel on an MP, but released after two days.

Death

In 1741 Bettesworth was sitting as an extra judge of

assize 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 ...

(a task regularly performed by the Irish serjeants-at-law at the time) on the Munster Circuit, when he caught the infectious

fever Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a temperature above the normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature set point. There is not a single agreed-upon upper limit for normal temperature with sources using val ...

which was particularly rampant in that

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...

year, and died of it.

References

Notes

Sources

*Fabricant, Carole, and Mahoney, Robert ''Swift's Irish Writings- Selected Prose and Poetry'' Palgrave MacMillan 2010 * *Elias, A. C. ed. ''Memoirs of Laetitia Pilkington'' UGA Press 199 * * *Scott, Walter ''Life of Jonathan Swift'' Wells and Lilly, Boston 1829 Volume 2 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bettesworth, Richard Irish barristers Serjeants-at-law (Ireland) Members of the Middle Temple People from County Cork Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kilkenny constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cork constituencies Alumni of Trinity College Dublin 1689 births 1741 deaths