Robert Lindsay (1679-1743) was an Irish barrister, politician and

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 ...

in eighteenth-century Ireland. He is best remembered for his close friendship with

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

, whom he advised on the legal aspects of the '' Drapier Letters''.Bergin He was born at Loughry,

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

, elder son of Robert Lindsay and Anne Morris, daughter of John Morris of Bellville.Ball pp.203-4 His father died in 1691 and he inherited the family estate. He went to school in

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

and graduated from

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

in 1700. He entered the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1703 and 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 1709. A warm friendship existed between Lindsay and Dean Swift, despite Swift's generally low opinion of lawyers and judges. Lindsay advised Swift on some legal points concerning the ''Drapier Letters'', and Swift was probably responsible for Lindsay's appointment as Proctor's counsel and later

Seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

(legal adviser) of

St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Saint Patrick's Cathedral ( ir, Ard-Eaglais Naomh Pádraig) in Dublin, Ireland, founded in 1191 as a Roman Catholic cathedral, is currently the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. Christ Church Cathedral, also a Church of Ireland ca ...

. While Swift in old age quarrelled with many of his friends, his friendship with Lindsay endured till the latter's death, and Swift had intended him to be one of his

executors An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, may sometimes be used. Overview An executor is a legal term referring to a person named by the maker of a ...

. He also acted as legal adviser to Esther Van Homrigh, Swift's much-loved ''"Vanessa".'' 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 fra ...

as member for

in 1729. In 1733 he was appointed a justice of the

Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) The Court of Common Pleas was one of the principal courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. Common Pleas was one of the four courts of justice which gave the Four Courts in Dublin, which is still ...

. He died 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 ...

early in 1743 and was buried there in St Catherine's Church. In 1707 he married Elizabeth Singleton, daughter of Edward Singleton of Drogheda and Catherine Newton; her numerous siblings included Henry Singleton,

Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas The chief justice of the Common Pleas for Ireland was the presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland, which was known in its early years as the Court of Common Bench, or simply as "the Bench", or "the Dublin bench". It was one of the s ...

, who was also a close friend of Swift. They had one surviving daughter Anne, who never married, and a son who died young. Loughry passed to Robert's brother John.

Sources

*Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926 *Bergin, John "Lindsay, Robert" ''Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography''

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindsay, Robert Politicians from County Tyrone Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Members of the Inner Temple Justices of the Irish Common Pleas Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Tyrone constituencies 1679 births 1743 deaths