Sir Richard Stephens (c. 1630–1692) was an Irish

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

, politician and

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of the seventeenth century. He was a highly successful lawyer, who made a fortune at the Bar, but his judicial career was hampered by his unorthodox religious and political views. He became

Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) This is a list of lawyers who held the rank of serjeant-at-law at the Bar of Ireland. Origins of the office of serjeant The first recorded serjeant was Roger Owen, who was appointed between 1261 and 1266, although the title itself was not us ...

under King Charles II, but was dismissed from office after only two years. He was in political disgrace during the following reign. After the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

he was appointed to the Irish High Court bench, but he died only two years later.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'' John Murray London 1926 Vol. 2, p. 58.

Early years

He was born in

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

, the son of Richard Stephens senior. He entered

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

in 1658 and the King's Inn in 1663. He became one of the most successful practitioners at 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 ...

, and was made

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Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

and

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 ...

. In 1665 he was elected 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, ...

as member for

Ardee Ardee (; , ) is a town and townland in County Louth, Ireland. It is located at the intersection of the N2, N52, and N33 roads. The town shows evidence of development from the thirteenth century onward but as a result of the continued develo ...

, after the expulsion of the previous member, John Chambers.

Popish Plot

In the autumn of 1678 the great wave of anti-Catholic hysteria which is popularly known as the

Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinat ...

, sparked by the invention by the

informer An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

Titus Oates Titus Oates (15 September 1649 – 12/13 July 1705) was an English priest who fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II. Early life Titus Oates was born at Oakham in Rutland. His father was the Baptis ...

of a wholly fictitious

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

conspiracy to murder the King, broke out in England, and the Plot also gained credence in Ireland.Kenyon, J.P. ''The Popish Plot'' Phoenix Books reissue 2000 pp.224–5. At that time several Irish judges and Law Officers, who were aware of the King's own leaning towards the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

religion, openly admitted their own Catholic beliefs, even though Irish office holders were in theory disqualified if they admitted to practising that faith. 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 ...

James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde Lieutenant general, Lieutenant-General James FitzThomas Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, Knight of the Garter, KG, Privy Council of England, PC (19 October 1610 – 21 July 1688), was an Anglo-Irish statesman and soldier, known as Earl of Ormond fr ...

, although himself a staunch Anglican, had pursued a policy of unofficial

religious toleration Religious tolerance or religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, ...

towards Roman Catholics. By 1679 however public opinion demanded the appointment to office of men of staunchly

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

views: and Stephens was a political client of

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury PC, FRS (22 July 1621 – 21 January 1683), was an English statesman and peer. He held senior political office under both the Commonwealth of England and Charles II, serving as Chancellor of the ...

, who had used the Popish Plot to become effective

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

in the English Parliament. Ormonde, despite his personal antipathy to Stephens, now recommended him to the King as a man who was worth promoting: Stephens met the King at

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and was given a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

Office

His career did not advance as quickly as he could have hoped: he failed in his efforts to become

Master of the Rolls in Ireland The Master of the Rolls in Ireland was a senior judicial office in the Irish Chancery under English and British rule, and was equivalent to the Master of the Rolls in the English Chancery. Originally called the Keeper of the Rolls, he was respon ...

Solicitor General for Ireland The Solicitor-General for Ireland was the holder of an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office. The holder was a deputy to the Attorney-General for Ireland, and advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. On r ...

, or

Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was the Baron (judge) who presided over the Irish Court of Exchequer. This was a mirror of the equivalent court in England, and was one of the four courts which sat in the building in Dublin which is still ...

. He finally achieved public office as Second Serjeant-at-law in 1680. He went as a judge of

assize The assizes (), or courts of assize, 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 ex ...

in the north-west of Ireland, and apparently planned to enter the

English House of Commons The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales) from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of ...

Dismissal

The waning of popular belief in the Popish Plot in the early 1680s, and the downfall of Stephens's patron Lord Shaftesbury, who was forced to flee from England in 1682 and died in exile in

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early the following year, made Stephens's position precarious. Ormonde was noted for his deep-seated loyalty to his friends, who included most of the Irish judiciary, but he seems to have disliked Stephens. Stephens was dismissed from the office of King's Serjeant late in 1682 at Ormonde's request, on the grounds that he was a "fanatic", i.e. a non-conforming Protestant (Ormonde's policy of religious tolerance clearly had limits).Hart, A.R. '' History of the King's Serjeant-at-law in Ireland'' Four Courts Press Dublin 2000 pp.64-6. Stephens complained bitterly that he had lost £1000 a year as a result of his dismissal from office: although the nominal salary of a Serjeant was fixed a few years later at £30 a year, there is a good deal of evidence that the perquisites of the office brought the actual income up to roughly the figure which Stephens mentioned, although the matter is complicated by the fact that a Serjeant could also continue with his private practice. Stephens may have derived some ironic amusement from the fiasco which followed his removal, as no less than three candidates- William Beckett, Sir Richard Ryves and Sir

John Lyndon Sir John Lyndon (c. 1630-1699) was an Irish judge and politician of the seventeenth century. He was the first holder of the office of Third Serjeant-at-law, which was created especially for him, apparently as a "consolation prize" for not being ...

- claimed that they had been promised his job. Ormonde, whose indifference to the question of who held the office of Serjeant was largely responsible for the difficulty, felt it necessary to create a new office of Third Serjeant to satisfy the rivals, even though it was generally believed that there was not enough work for the existing two Serjeants. It has been suggested that Stephens's dismissal set the precedent for the policy later adopted by King James II, which entailed the wholesale dismissal of judges and other office-holders for holding the "wrong" religious opinions.

Last years

He became a bitter opponent of

King James II James II and VII (14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) was King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685, until he was deposed in the 1688 Glori ...

, and like many of the King's Irish opponents, he fled to England after James arrived in Ireland in 1689. He was

proscribed Proscription () is, in current usage, a 'decree of condemnation to death or banishment' (''Oxford English Dictionary'') and can be used in a political context to refer to state-approved murder or banishment. The term originated in Ancient Rome ...

as one of the King's known enemies by the

Patriot Parliament Patriot Parliament is the name commonly used for the Irish Parliament session called by King James II during the Williamite War in Ireland which lasted from 1688 to 1691. The first since 1666, it held only one session, which lasted from 7 May ...

of 1689.Hart, p. 88. After James' downfall, he was restored to his old office of Second Serjeant. He continued to reside mainly in England: although he was appointed a justice of the

Court of King's Bench (Ireland) The Court of King's Bench (of Queen's Bench when the sovereign was female, and formerly of Chief Place or Chief Pleas) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The King's Ben ...

in 1690, he did not sit regularly as a judge, possibly due to failing health. He died in 1692.

References