Stephen Woulfe Flanagan, PC, PC (Ire) (4 August 1816 – 6 December 1891) was an Irish landowner, barrister, and judge. He was a judge of the Landed Estates Court.

Biography

Born in

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

, Flanagan was the second son of Terence Flanagan, of Knockhall,

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 ...

, and of Mary Johanna, daughter of Stephen Woulfe, of 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 ...

. His mother was the sister of

Stephen Woulfe Stephen Woulfe (1787 – 2 July 1840) was an Irish barrister and Whig politician. He served as Solicitor-General for Ireland in 1836 and as Attorney-General for Ireland in 1838. He was the first Roman Catholic to be appointed Chief Baron of the ...

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 ...

. Flanagan matriculated at

Dublin University The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

in 1833 and entered 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 1837. In 1838 he graduated

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

and was called to the Irish Bar. He was appointed a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1859. Flanagan was secretary to the Landed Estates Commission until he was appointed Master in the

Encumbered Estates' Court The Encumbered Estates' Court was established by an Act of the British Parliament in 1849, to facilitate the sale of Irish estates whose owners, because of the Great Famine, were unable to meet their obligations. It was given authority to sell est ...

in 1850. The office was abolished on the establishment of the Landed Estates Court in 1858, whereupon he returned to private practice. but it was provided that Flanagan's tenure as Master should be counted as reckonable service for pension purposes if he were to be appointed to the Landed Estates Court. Flanagan was subsequently appointed to the Landed Estates Court in 1869, on the death of William Cary Dobbs. He remained the Court's only judge until

Henry Ormsby Henry Wilmot Ormsby Privy Council of Ireland, PC, Queen's Counsel, QC (1812 – 1887) was an Irish lawyer and judge. Ormsby was born at Powerscourt Estate, Powerscourt, County Wicklow, the fourth son of the Reverend Henry Ormsby and his wife Mar ...

was appointed in 1875. In 1878, Flanagan was appointed a judge of the Chancery Division of the

Irish High Court The High Court ( ga, An Ard-Chúirt) of Ireland is a court which deals at first instance with the most serious and important civil and criminal cases. When sitting as a criminal court it is called the Central Criminal Court and sits with judg ...

when the Landed Estates Court was abolished by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877. Flanagan resigned from the bench in 1885 and was sworn of the

Imperial Privy Council The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

, having been sworn to the

Irish Privy Council 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 ...

in 1876. In retirement, he occasionally heard appeals in the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Augus ...

. Flanagan owned 3,500 acres in Sligo and Roscommon, in addition to houses in or near Dublin. A

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 ...

and a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

in politics, Flanagan died in Dublin in 1891.

Family

In 1851, he married Mary Deborah, daughter of John Richard Corballis QC; they had six sons and five daughters. His eldest son, John Woulfe Flanagan (1852–1929), became principal leader writer at ''The Times'', from which position he bitterly attacked

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...

, and

High Sheriff of Roscommon The High Sheriff of Roscommon was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Roscommon, Ireland from 1575 until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Roscommon County Sheriff. The sherif ...

.{{Cite news, title=Journalist who turned his pen against Parnell, url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/journalist-who-turned-his-pen-against-parnell-1.1277888, access-date=2021-07-14, newspaper=The Irish Times, language=en John married his cousin Maria Emily Sheil (died 1888), daughter of

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 ...

and granddaughter of Chief Baron Woulfe. Stephen's fourth son, James Woulfe Flanagan, resident magistrate for Newry district, was assassinated in 1922 on leaving

Newry Cathedral Newry Cathedral or the Cathedral of Saint Patrick and Saint Colman is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in Newry, Northern Ireland. It acts as the seat of the Bishop of Dromore, and the Mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dromore. ...

after a service.

References

* F. Elrington Ball, ''The Judges in Ireland, 1221-1921'' Alumni of Trinity College Dublin 1891 deaths Irish barristers Irish Queen's Counsel Members of the Middle Temple Judges of the High Court of Justice in Ireland Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom 19th-century Irish judges 19th-century Irish landowners