Sir Samuel Bradstreet, 3rd Baronet (October 1738 – 2 May 1791) was an Irish politician, barrister 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 ...

. His independence of mind as a politician gave rise to the somewhat misleading nickname "Slippery Sam". He was the second son of Sir Simon Bradstreet, 1st Baronet of Kilmainham, Dublin and his wife and first cousin Ellen Bradstreet, daughter of Samuel Bradstreet of

Gowran Gowran (; ) is a town located on the eastern side of County Kilkenny, Ireland. The historic St. Mary's Collegiate Church is located in the centre of Gowran close to Gowran Castle. Gowran Park race course and Golf Course is located one km from t ...

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

and Elizabeth Agar. In 1773, Samuel succeeded his older brother Simon as third baronet. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and was then called to the Bar by 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 an ...

in 1758, becoming

King's Counsel 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 ...

in 1767 In 1766, he became Recorder of Dublin. Bradstreet entered the Irish House of Commons as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for Dublin City in 1776, representing the constituency until 1784, when he was appointed Fourth Justice at the Court of King's Bench (Ireland). Ironically, like several of his colleagues, Bradstreet as a politician had opposed increasing the number of High Court judges: Elrington Ball remarked cynically that an increase in the salary and a guarantee of

security of tenure Security of tenure is a term used in political science to describe a constitutional or legal guarantee that a political office-holder cannot be removed from office except in exceptional and specified circumstances. Without security of tenure, an ...

soon convinced him of the error of his ways. Unlike many of his colleagues, he was able to work harmoniously with his Chief Justice, John Scott, 1st Earl of Clonmell, who called him "my assistant".Ball p. 168 He was a good and frequent speaker in Parliament: though loosely associated with the

Irish Patriot Party The Irish Patriot Party was the name of a number of different political groupings in Ireland throughout the 18th century. They were primarily supportive of Whig concepts of personal liberty combined with an Irish identity that rejected full inde ...

he clashed on occasion with Henry Grattan, and claimed that the liberties granted by the

Constitution of 1782 The Constitution of 1782 was a group of Acts passed by the Parliament of Ireland and the Parliament of Great Britain in 1782–83 which increased the legislative and judicial independence of the Kingdom of Ireland by reducing the ability of ...

were insufficient. He prided himself on independence of mind; according to Ball his nickname "Slippery Sam" did not mean that he was corrupt or untrustworthy but rather that no party could ever count on his support. He was described as firm and decisive in character, rough in manner, and enormously fat (Chief Justice Scott, who was himself rather heavy, flippantly called him "the double man"). On 19 January 1771, he married Elizabeth Tully, daughter of Dr. James Tully, a Dublin physician, and his wife Bridget Netterville, a distant cousin of

Viscount Netterville Viscount Netterville was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1622 for Nicholas Netterville, 1st Viscount Netterville (1581–1654), eldest son of John Netterville of Dowth, County Meath and Eleanor Gernon, daughter of Sir James Ger ...

, and had by her four sons. Bradstreet died at his home in

Booterstown Booterstown () is a coastal suburb of the city of Dublin in Ireland. It is also a townland and civil parish in the modern county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It is situated about south of Dublin city centre. History There is some debate on ...

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his oldest son Simon. His widow died in 1799.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradstreet, Samuel 1738 births 1791 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland Irish MPs 1776–1783 Irish MPs 1783–1790 Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Dublin constituencies Recorders of Dublin