Stephen Woulfe (1787 – 2 July 1840) was an Irish

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and Whig politician. He served as

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 rar ...

in 1836 and 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 ...

in 1838. He was the first

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

to be appointed

Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was the Baron (judge) who presided over the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). The Irish Court of Exchequer was a mirror of the equivalent court in England and was one of the four courts which sat in the buildin ...

. He died young, due to a combination of chronic ill-health and overwork.

Life

Woulfe was born at Tiermaclane House,

Ennis Ennis () is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

, County Clare in 1787, second son of Stephen Woulfe and Honora Woulfe (née McNamara), daughter of Michael Macnamara and Bridget Waters. His father was a third cousin to the great general

James Wolfe James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a Major-general (United Kingdom), major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the Kingdom of France, French ...

; his mother was a sister of Admiral

James Macnamara Rear admiral (Royal Navy), Rear-Admiral James Macnamara (1768 – 15 January 1826) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. ...

. Stephen was a younger son, and the family estates passed to his elder brother Peter. He was educated at the lay college at

St Patrick's College, Maynooth St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth ( ga, Coláiste Naoimh Phádraig, Maigh Nuad), is the "National Seminary for Ireland" (a Roman Catholic college), and a pontifical university, located in the town of Maynooth, from Dublin, Ireland. ...

, before becoming one of the first Catholics to attend

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, where he studied law, before being called to the Bar in 1814. He was elected

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 Cashel at a by-election in 1835,and held the seat until his

resignation from the House of Commons Members of Parliament (MPs) sitting in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are not permitted to resign their seats. To circumvent this prohibition, MPs who wish to step down are instead appointed to an "office of profit under the Crown", ...

in 1838. He contributed little to the debates, due to his chronic ill-health. He showed great zeal in the fight for

Catholic Emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...

; but incurred the hostility of

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

by arguing that the Government was entitled to have a veto on the appointment of Catholic

bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. O'Connell subjected Woulfe to public ridicule, asking "are the sheep to be left to the mercy of this wolf (Woulfe)"? Woulfe's views endeared him to the Government and this, together with his undoubted legal ability, ensured his rapid promotion to Law Officer, and then the Bench. The phrase "racy of the soil", though strongly associated with the

Young Ireland Young Ireland ( ga, Éire Óg, ) was a political movement, political and cultural movement, cultural movement in the 1840s committed to an all-Ireland struggle for independence and democratic reform. Grouped around the Dublin weekly ''The Nati ...

movement, was originally coined by Woulfe, in a speech supporting the setting up of

municipal corporations A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally owned ...

in Ireland.

Family

He was married to Frances Hamill, daughter of Roger Hamill of Dowth,

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

, and had a son and a daughter. His son Stephen Roland Woulfe inherited the family estates from his uncle Peter in 1865 (but not Tiermacrane House, which was by then in a ruinous state). The judge's grandson

Edward Sheil Edward Sheil (1851 – 3 July 1915) was Irish nationalist politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Athlone from 1874 to 1880, for Meath from 1882 to 1885, and for South Meath from 1885 to 1892, taking his seat in the House of Commons o ...

, the son of his daughter Mary Leonora Woulfe (died 1869) who married

Sir Justin Sheil Major-General Sir Justin Sheil (2 December 1803 – 18 April 1871) was an Irish army officer and diplomat, the British envoy in Persia from 1844 to 1854. Life The son of Edward Sheil and Catherine McCarthy, and brother of Richard Lalor Sheil, he ...

, was an

Irish Nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

MP. Lady Sheil was the author of ''Glimpses of Manners and Life in Persia'' (1856). Her daughter Laura married the Spanish

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

Pedro de Zulueta and was the mother of

Francis de Zulueta Francis de Zulueta, FBA (born Francisco Maria José de Zulueta, 12 September 1878 – 16 January 1958) was the Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford from 1919 until 1948. Biography The son of Pedro Juan de Zulueta, Count of ...

, Regius Professor of Law at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. Another daughter Maria Emily married her cousin, the leading journalist John Woulfe Flanagan. His sister Mary, who married Terence Flanagan of Knockahill,

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

, named her son Stephen Woulfe Flanagan. The nephew followed his uncle to the Bar and Bench, ending his career as justice of the

Court of Chancery (Ireland) The Court of Chancery was a court which exercised equitable jurisdiction in Ireland until its abolition as part of the reform of the court system in 1877. It was the court in which the Lord Chancellor of Ireland presided. Its final sitting plac ...

Chief Baron

According to Elrington Ball, the

Court of Exchequer (Ireland) The Court of Exchequer (Ireland) or the Irish Exchequer of Pleas, was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was the mirror image of the equivalent court in England. The Court of Exchequer was one of the four royal courts of justic ...

at this time had the heaviest workload of any of the Irish superior Courts, and its Chief Baron needed a strong physical constitution to cope with the burden of office. Despite his undoubted legal ability, Woulfe's chronic ill-health made him a very poor choice for the office, and indeed he did not seek it:

Maziere Brady Sir Maziere Brady, 1st Baronet, PC (Ire) (20 July 1796 – 13 April 1871) was an Irish judge, notable for his exceptionally long, though not particularly distinguished tenure as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Background Brady was born at his parent ...

and

Edward Pennefather Edward Pennefather PC, KC (22 October 1774 – 6 September 1847) was an Irish barrister, Law Officer and judge of the Victorian era, who held office as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. Early life Pennefather was born in Tipperary, the second ...

were his own suggested candidates for Chief Baron. He finally yielded, though, to his party's pleas to take office and, in Ball's phrase, "the job killed him in two years". He went to

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

in hope of a cure, but his health did not improve, and he died there on 2 July 1840 following an unsuccessful operation.

Character and appearance

Woulfe was described as a man "careless of attire, awkward and angular in his movements, but very effective in his utterances; no profound lawyer, but a man of quick and shrewd observation."

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woulfe, Stephen 1787 births 1840 deaths Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Attorneys-General for Ireland Chief Barons of the Irish Exchequer Irish barristers Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Tipperary constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Privy Council of Ireland People from Ennis Politicians from County Clare Serjeants-at-law (Ireland) Solicitors-General for Ireland UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1837–1841 Whig (British political party) MPs for Irish constituencies