Robert Marshall (c.1695–1774) was an Irish judge. He is remembered chiefly as co-executor and legatee of

Esther Vanhomrigh Esther Vanhomrigh or Van Homrigh (known by the pseudonym Vanessa; c. 1688 – 2 June 1723), an Irish woman of Dutch (ethnic group), Dutch descent, was a longtime lover and correspondent of Jonathan Swift. Swift's letters to her were published ...

, the beloved "Vanessa" of

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 ...

, although he was not a close friend of hers; indeed it is possible that they never met.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926 Vol. 2

Personal life

He was born in

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

, son of John Marshall, styled as a "gentleman" and his wife Catherine. He was educated at Clonmel Free School and

Kilkenny College Kilkenny College is an independent Church of Ireland co-educational day and boarding secondary school located in Kilkenny, in the South-East of Ireland. It is the largest co-educational boarding school in Ireland. The school's students are mainly ...

, entered

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 an ...

in 1718 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 1723. His father committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

in Clonmel in 1717. He moved house several times before buying a country house at

Monkstown, County Dublin Monkstown (), historically known as ''Carrickbrennan'' ( gle, Carraig Bhraonáin), is a suburb in south Dublin, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. It is on the coast, between Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire. The lands of the Carrickbr ...

. In 1741 he married a great heiress, Mary Wooley, daughter of Benjamin Wooley of

East Sheen East Sheen, also known as Sheen, is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its long high street has shops, offices, restaurants, cafés, pubs and suburban supermarkets and is also the economic hub for Mort ...

, near

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 ...

, who is said to have brought him a

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

of £30,000. She died childless in 1743. He outlived her by thirty years, despite his own increasing ill-health, which led to frequent visits to England in hope of a cure. He was buried in

Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford, or more formally, the Cathedral of The Holy Trinity, Christ Church, is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Waterford City, Ireland. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin. Previously the cathedr ...

Legal and political career

He was appointed Third Serjeant in 1738 and Second Serjeant in 1741. As a barrister he made his reputation in the celebrated Annesley case, in which

James Annesley James Annesley (1715 – 5 January 1760) was an Irishman with a claim to the title Earl of Anglesey Earl of Anglesey was a title in the Peerage of England during the 17th and 18th centuries. History The first creation came in 1623 when Ch ...

claimed to be the rightful

Earl of Anglesey Earl of Anglesey was a title in the Peerage of England during the 17th and 18th centuries. History The first creation came in 1623 when Christopher Villiers was created Earl of Anglesey, in Wales, as well as Baron Villiers. He was the elder br ...

against the rival claim of his uncle, which is often said to be the inspiration for the novel ''

Kidnapped Kidnapped may refer to: * subject to the crime of kidnapping Literature * ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson * ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Ca ...

'' by

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

. His practice was lucrative, though the bulk of what became a great fortune was undoubtedly due to his advantageous marriage to Mary Wooley. He sat in 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

and was generally a reliable Government supporter; he was also

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

of Clonmel at intervals between 1727 and 1747, and served as Mayor of Clonmel four times. He was

High Sheriff of County Tipperary The High Sheriff of Tipperary was the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Tipperary. Initially an office for a lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Beside ...

in 1729. He also took an interest in the affairs of

County Waterford County Waterford ( ga, Contae Phort Láirge) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region. It is named ...

, particularly after the marriage of his sister Elizabeth to

Thomas Christmas Thomas Christmas was an Irish politician. Christmas was born in Waterford, son of Richard Christmas, High Sheriff of Waterford in 1686, and Susanna Aland, daughter of Henry Aland, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was MP for the ...

MP, the head of a family which played a leading role in the political life of Waterford for several generations. He became a judge 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 ...

in 1754 and retired in 1766.

Vanessa

In 1723 the intense friendship between Jonathan Swift and Esther Vanhomrigh, for whom he created the name ''Vanessa'', ended in a violent quarrel about another woman whom he had loved for many years,

Esther Johnson Esther Johnson (13 March 1681 – 28 January 1728) was the English friend of Jonathan Swift, known as "Stella". Whether or not she and Swift were secretly married, and if so why the marriage was never made public, is a subject of debate. Pare ...

(whom he nicknamed "Stella"); Swift may secretly have married Stella in 1716, although the truth of this is now impossible to determine. The quarrel arose when Vanessa apparently asked Swift not to see Stella again, and he refused. Vanessa, who was seriously ill with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

and died a few months later, revoked the will she had made in Swift's favour and made a new

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

, dividing her estate between Marshall and

George Berkeley George Berkeley (; 12 March 168514 January 1753) – known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland) – was an Anglo-Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immate ...

, later to be a celebrated

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and

Bishop of Cloyne The Bishop of Cloyne is an episcopal title that takes its name after the small town of Cloyne in County Cork, Republic of Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church, it is a separate title; but, in the Church of Ireland, it has been united with oth ...

, and appointing them as her joint

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 ...

. Her choice of

legatee A legatee, in the law of wills, is any individual or organization bequeathed any portion of a testator A testator () is a person who has written and executed a last will and testament that is in effect at the time of their death. It is any "person ...

caused a good deal of surprise since it does not seem that she knew either man well (nor did they apparently know each other): indeed it has been suggested that she may never have met either of them. In the event much of the estate was dissipated in a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

. There is a tradition that Marshall and Berkeley disobeyed a provision in the will that they publish all of Swift's correspondence with Vanessa, but in fact, no such provision seems to have existed. Marshall did preserve copies of the correspondence. Swift, though he had no quarrel with Berkeley, and indeed respected him, regarded Marshall (whom he called a "scoundrel"), as his enemy. Admittedly Swift had a notoriously poor opinion of lawyers in general.Hammond p.236

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Robert 1695 births 1774 deaths People from Clonmel People educated at Kilkenny College Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Tipperary constituencies Members of the Middle Temple Justices of the Irish Common Pleas Irish MPs 1727–1760 Serjeants-at-law (Ireland)