Stephen Roche (died after 1444) was an Irish Crown official and Law Officer. He held office as

Attorney-General for Ireland The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. With the ...

and was a member of the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

. He is first heard of as an official in the Irish Chancery in the 1420s. In 1423 he was engrosser (copier) of the

Exchequer of Ireland The Exchequer of Ireland was a body in the Kingdom of Ireland tasked with collecting The Crown, royal revenue. Modelled on the Exchequer, English Exchequer, it was created in 1210 after King John of England applied English law and legal structure ...

.''Patent Roll 2 Henry VI'' His duties were onerous enough for him to be allowed to appoint a deputy Alexander White. He evidently visited England in the same year. In 1425 he was appointed to the senior position of

Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper The Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper was a civil servant within the Irish Chancery in the Dublin Castle administration. His duties corresponded to the offices of Clerk of the Crown and Clerk of the Hanaper in the English Chancery. Latterly, the o ...

, with the same fee as his predecessor, John Passavant, i.e. 100 shillings a year, plus "certain arrears".''Patent Roll 3 Henry VI'' He was superseded in 1427 but held office again from 1428-1430. He petitioned the Council for compensation for his "heavy labour" on royal business which required numerous journeys to 12 counties of Leinster and Munster at his own expense, "to his great impoverishment". The petition was granted and he was awarded 10 marks. He also complained that his predecessor John Passavant on leaving office had failed to give a full account of the sum due to the office. In 1441 he was appointed Attorney General, or King's Attorney as the office was then generally known. He was also a member of the Privy Council, although the Attorney General at the time did not automatically have a seat on the Council. He attended the meeting of the Great Council of Ireland which was held at

Naas Naas ( ; ga, Nás na Ríogh or ) is the county town of County Kildare in Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 21,393, making it the second largest town in County Kildare after Newbridge. History The name of Naas has been recorded in th ...

, County Kildare in 1441.Otway-Ruthven p.371 The Council authorised him to go to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to lay the Irish Government's grievances before King Henry VI and his

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

. An itemised list of these grievances survives: they include the uncertain legal status of Englishmen born in Ireland, the utter inadequacy of the Irish revenue and

customs Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...

, and the failure of the towns of

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

and

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

to pay the rents due on their

fee farm grant In English and Irish law, a fee farm grant is a hybrid type of land ownership typical in cities and towns. The word ''fee'' is derived from fief or fiefdom, meaning a feudal landholding, and a fee farm grant is similar to a fee simple in the se ...

s. He served as Attorney General until 1444, when his place was taken by William Sutton. Attorneys-General for Ireland Members of the Privy Council of Ireland

Sources

*Casey, James ''The Irish Law Officers'' Round Hall Sweet and Maxwell 1996 *Otway-Ruthven, A.J. ''A History of Medieval Ireland'' Barnes and Noble reissue New York 1993 *Richardson, H. G. and Sayles, G.O. ''The Irish Parliament in the Middle Ages'' University of Pennsylvania Press 1952

Footnotes

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