Sir James Donnellan (c. 1588 – 1665) was an Irish

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and politician, who became

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 ...

in 1660. He was unusual among the Irish judges of the time in being of Gaelic descent; and more remarkable in that his service as a judge under Oliver Cromwell did not disqualify him from service after the Restoration of Charles II.

Personal life

He was the third son of

Nehemiah Donnellan Nehemiah Donnellan (a.k.a. Fearganainm Ó Domhnalláin) (fl. c. 1560-1609) was Archbishop of Tuam. Background Donellan was born in the county of Galway, a son of Mael Sechlainn Ó Dónalláin, by his wife Sisly, daughter of William Ó Cellaigh o ...

, Archbishop of Tuam, and his wife Elizabeth O'Donnell. He married firstly Anne Barry, sister of James Barry, 1st Baron Barry of Santry and secondly Sarah Wheeler, daughter of Jonas Wheeler, Bishop of Ossory and Martha Tucker, and widow of Matthew Tyrrell. By Sarah he was the father of

, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer and also of several daughters. Nemehiah Donnellan was the father of Anne Donnellan, who founded the Donnellan lectures in Trinity College Dublin, and Katherine Donnellan, who married Robert Clayton, Bishop of Cork and Ross. James's principal residence was Rathswire,

County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Sovereign state, Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces o ...

. He is buried in

Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the ecclesiastical province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the ( ...

Education

He had a distinguished career at Trinity College Dublin which he was later to represent in the Irish House of Commons. He was scholar in 1607, Bachelor of Arts in 1610, Fellow in 1612 and Master of Arts in 1613. He entered

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1616 and was called to the Bar in 1623. He entered the King's Inn the same year and was Treasurer in 1639.

Career

He was elected to the House of Commons in 1634. In 1627 he became third justice of Connacht and was promoted to the office of

Chief Justice of Connacht The Chief Justice of Connacht was the senior of the judges who assisted the Lord President of Connaught in judicial matters. Despite the Chief Justice's title, full judicial powers were vested in the Lord President, whose office was established in ...

in 1634. He owed the promotion to the goodwill of the

Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...

, the Earl of Strafford, who hoped, rather cynically, to appease the Old Irish faction by appointing a few "token" judges of Gaelic origin. He became a judge of the High Court in 1637, being made third 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 ...

Civil War

When the English Civil War broke out Donnellan was initially a Royalist; he had long been close to

Ulick Burke, 5th Earl of Clanricarde Ulick MacRichard Burke, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde, 5th Earl of Clanricarde, 2nd Earl of St Albans (; ; ; ; 1604, in London – July 1657, in Kent), was an Anglo-Irish nobleman who was involved in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Catholic Roy ...

in whom Charles I placed great trust. The King summoned Donnellan to Oxford to treat with the Irish Confederacy.Ball p.337 After the defeat of the Royalist cause, according to Henry Cromwell, Donnellan became a faithful supporter of the new regime, diligently persecuting his former allies. He was one of four commissioners appointed to administrate justice in Leinster in 1651. He served on the High Court of Justice in 1653, and returned to the Court of Common Pleas as its second Justice in 1655.Ball p.337

Chief Justice

On the face of it Donnellan's loyal service to Cromwell, combined with his Gaelic origins, should have debarred him from judicial office, especially one of the four highest offices, at the Restoration of Charles II.

James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde Lieutenant-General James FitzThomas Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, KG, PC (19 October 1610 – 21 July 1688), was a statesman and soldier, known as Earl of Ormond from 1634 to 1642 and Marquess of Ormond from 1642 to 1661. Following the failur ...

, 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 Kingdo ...

, who personally chose the new judges, had no strong objection to men of Gaelic background, but did normally require a record of loyalty to the Crown. Ball suggests that while Donnellan's first wife Anne had been dead for many years he was still on friendly terms with her brother Lord Santry, now to be appointed Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, who used his influence on Donnellan's behalf. Donnellan was restored to Royal favour, made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and

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

. He was, for the time, a very old man, and his health quickly failed: well before his death the English Government was thinking of replacing him, but Ormonde requested that they wait till the old man was actually dead.Ball p. 278 In the event he was still in office when he died in 1665.

References

*Ball, F. Elrington''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926 * ''Donnellan, James'', Terry Clavin, in ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'', pp. 392–93, Cambridge, 2009. *Kenny, Colum ''King's Inns and the Kingdom of Ireland'' Irish Academic Press Dublin 1992

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donnellan, James Politicians from County Galway Politicians from County Dublin 17th-century Irish judges 1580s births 1665 deaths People of Elizabethan Ireland 17th-century Irish politicians Irish Anglicans Chief Justices of the Irish Common Pleas Chief Justices of Connacht Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for Dublin University Date of birth unknown Alumni of King's Inns