Robert Jocelyn, 1st Viscount Jocelyn PC (I) SL (c. 1688 ? – 3 December 1756) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

politician and judge and member of the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

, best known for serving as Lord Chancellor of Ireland.

Biography

Early life

Jocelyn was the eldest son of Thomas Jocelyn of

Sawbridgeworth Sawbridgeworth (traditionally or , now also ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, close to the border with Essex. It is east of Hertford and north of Epping, Essex, Epping. It is the northernmo ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, and Anne Bray, daughter of Thomas Bray of

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

. His paternal grandfather was Sir Robert Jocelyn, 1st Baronet, a

High Sheriff of Hertfordshire The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire was an ancient Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the foundation of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. On 1 April 1974, under the provi ...

. The Jocelyn are recorded as living in Sawbridgeworth since at least the fifteenth century: notable members of the family included

Ralph Josselyn Sir Ralph Josselyn (or Jocelyn) KB (died 25 October 1478) was a 15th-century English politician who held several political offices, including two terms as Lord Mayor of London. Family background Ralph Josselyn was the son of Jeffrey Josselyn ...

of Hyde Hall (died 1478), who was twice

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...

. He appears to have studied law for some time in the office of an attorney named Salkeld in Brooke Street,

Holborn Holborn ( or ), an area in central London, covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon Without i ...

, where he made the acquaintance of

Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, (1 December 16906 March 1764) was an England, English lawyer and politician who served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was a close confidant of the Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister between 1 ...

, (who served concurrently as

Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

during Jocelyn's term as Lord Chancellor of Ireland) and afterwards

Lord Hardwicke Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, (1 December 16906 March 1764) was an England, English lawyer and politician who served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was a close confidant of the Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister between 1 ...

Early career

Jocelyn was admitted as a student of

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

in 1709, he was called to the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland () 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 Bar of Ireland, commonly c ...

on 27 January 1719, and at a by-election in September 1725 was returned to the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

for

Granard Granard () is a town in the north of County Longford, Ireland, and has a traceable history going back to 236 CE. It is situated just south of the boundary between the watersheds of the Shannon and the Erne, at the point where the N55 ...

County Longford County Longford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the Local government in the Republic ...

. He was appointed Third Serjeant on 28 March 1726, and at the general election in 1727 was elected for Newtown,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Law Officer

On 4 May 1727, he became

Solicitor-General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

. On the accession of George II Jocelyn was confirmed in his office, and on 22 October 1730 was promoted to the post of

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

, in the place of Thomas Marlay, lately appointed

Lord Chief Baron The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who pres ...

. In 1739 as Attorney-General he prosecuted Lord Santry for the unprovoked

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

of Laughlin Murphy, a tavern porter. Santry was convicted and sentenced to death, but he was reprieved and went free.

Lord Chancellor

On the resignation of Thomas, Lord Wyndham, Jocelyn, through the influence of his old friend Lord Hardwicke, was appointed

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

(7 September 1739), and took his seat 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 the end of 1800. It was also the final court of appeal of the Kingdom of Ireland. It was modelled on the House of Lords of Englan ...

at the opening of Parliament on 9 October 1739. He was created Baron Newport, of Newport, in the

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

by letters patent dated 29 November 1743. As Lord Chancellor, he was one of those charged with designing measures to alleviate the Famine of 1740–1, which was so severe that it became known as "the year of slaughter". One historian has criticised the measures which were put in place as both harsh and ineffective. On 3 February 1744 he presided as

Lord High Steward The Lord High Steward is the first of the Great Officers of State in England, nominally ranking above the Lord Chancellor. The office has generally remained vacant since 1421, and is now an ''ad hoc'' office that is primarily ceremonial and ...

at the trial of

Nicholas Netterville, 5th Viscount Netterville Nicholas Netterville, 5th Viscount Netterville (1708–1750) was an Irish peer, who is mainly remembered for having been tried and acquitted by his peers on a charge of murder. He was the only son of John, 4th Viscount Netterville, and his wife ...

, who was indicted for the murder of his manservant Michael Walsh, but was "honourably acquitted", on the grounds that the two main witnesses against him had died before the trial, and their depositions could not be relied on as evidence. Surprisingly little is known about the details of the crime. He was created Viscount Jocelyn, also in the peerage of Ireland, by letters patent dated 6 December 1755 In September 1756 the

Great Seal of Ireland The Great Seal of Ireland was the Seal (emblem), seal used until 1922 by the Dublin Castle administration to authenticate important state documents in Ireland, in the same manner as the Great Seal of the Realm in England. The Great Seal of Irela ...

was put in commission during Jocelyn's absence from Ireland for the recovery of his health. He never returned, and, dying in London on 3 December 1756, aged 68, was buried at

, Hertfordshire.

Character assessment and memorials

Jocelyn is described by

Lord Chesterfield Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (22 September 169424 March 1773) was a British statesman, diplomat, man of letters, and an acclaimed wit of his time. Early life He was born in London to Philip Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Chesterfi ...

as "a man of great worth". He possessed an amiable character, and literary and antiquarian tastes. He served no fewer than nine times as one of the Lords Justices during the absence of the

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the K ...

, and was president of the Dublin Physico-Historical Society. Among the Addit. MSS. in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

there is an interesting letter written by Jocelyn (dated Dublin 2 November 1754) to

the Duke of Newcastle Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne (21 July 1693 – 17 November 1768) was an English Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain, and whose official life extended througho ...

, calling the duke's attention to "the very extraordinary height to which the disputes and animosities here have been unhappily carried". He had a house at

St Stephen's Green St Stephen's Green () is a garden square and public park located in the city centre of Dublin, Ireland. The current landscape of the park was designed by William Sheppard. It was officially re-opened to the public on Tuesday, 27 July 1880 by ...

in the city centre, and later leased

Mount Merrion Mount Merrion () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is roughly 7 kilometres (5 mi) south of Dublin city centre and is situated on and around the hill of the same name. Location and access Mount Merrion is 3 kilometres (2 mi) southw ...

House, to the south of Dublin, from

Viscount FitzWilliam Viscount FitzWilliam, of Merrion in the County of Dublin, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1629 for Thomas FitzWilliam, along with the subsidiary title Baron FitzWilliam, of Thorncastle in the County of Dublin, also in th ...

. He was a man of simple tastes and unassuming manner: it was noted with amusement that both his

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

, Isaac Mann (later

Bishop of Cork and Ross The Bishop of Cork and Ross is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Cork and the County Cork town of Rosscarbery in the Republic of Ireland. The combined title was first used by the Church of Ireland from 1638 to 1660 and ...

), and his house steward Mr Wilde were frequently mistaken for him, as both had far more of the grand manner expected of a nobleman than Jocelyn did. He was happiest at home at Mount Merrion, rarely leaving it in his leisure time, his main recreation being walks in the surrounding countryside (now suburban, Merrion was then largely open country). Elrington Ball states that though in politics he remained an Englishman, his love for his adopted country, which he scarcely left in the last twenty years of his life, entitles him to be called an honorary Irishman. Two portraits of Jocelyn by the leading artist

Stephen Slaughter Stephen Slaughter (baptised 1697, died 1765) was an English portrait painter. He spent periods of his career in Dublin, where he introduced the English style of portrait painting. Life He was the son of Stephen and Judith Slaughter, was baptised ...

were in the possession of the Earl of Roden in 1890. A marble bust by John Bacon was erected to his memory in

Church by his son.

Family

Jocelyn married, firstly, in 1720, Charlotte (died 23 February 1747), daughter and co-heiress of Charles Anderson of

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

; her sister Anne married

Timothy Goodwin Timothy Goodwin, Godwin or Godwyn (1670?–1729) was an English churchman, who became archbishop of Cashel. Life He was born at Norwich, probably about 1670. He began his education at the nonconformist academy of Samuel Cradock, at Geesings, Suf ...

Archbishop of Cashel The Archbishop of Cashel () was an archiepiscopal title which took its name after the town of Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland. Following the Reformation, there had been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church ...

. Robert and Charlotte's only son,

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

, succeeded his father as second viscount, and was created

Earl of Roden Earl of Roden is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1771 for Robert Jocelyn, 2nd Viscount Jocelyn. This branch of the Jocelyn family descends from the 1st Viscount, prominent Irish lawyer and politician Robert Jocelyn, the s ...

of High Roding in the county of Tipperary on 1 December 1771. The death of Charlotte, "the best of wives" caused him intense grief. On 15 November 1754 Jocelyn married, secondly, Frances, daughter of Thomas Claxton of Dublin, and widow of

Richard Parsons, 1st Earl of Rosse Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and ...

. Though short-lived, this marriage was also a happy one.Ball p.142 She survived her second husband, and died on 25 May 1772.