Thomas Bache (judge)

Thomas Bache (died c.1410) was an Anglo-Italian cleric and judge who held high office in Ireland in the later fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. He served one term as Lord High Treasurer of Ireland and three terms as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer.''Patent Roll 5 Richard II''

The Bache family came originally from Genoa.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'' John Murray London 1926 Vol. 1 p.164 They had a long-standing connection with the English Court: for several decades two "merchants of Genoa", who were both named Antonio Bache, and who were presumably father and son, supplied the Royal Household with spices and other luxuries, and also loaned the English Crown substantial sums of money. There is a record of a loan of £500 to the Crown by Antonio Bache in 1334.''National Archives E43/138'' Thomas was almost certainly a member of this family, although his exact relationship with the two Antonios is unclear. In Irish records he is frequently called Thomas Bathe, a name much more familiar to the Anglo-Irish.

Thomas entered the Church, a common career path for ambitious officials in that era. He served as a Crown official in England in an unspecified capacity, before coming to Ireland in the 1360s. He did not reach the highest ranks of the Church, but he was appointed Archdeacon of Dublin, then Archdeacon of Meath; he was also given the livings of Kilberry, County Meath, and Brington, Northamptonshire, and was prebendary of Lusk, Dublin.

He was appointed Clerk of the Wages for the army of Leinster in 1368; this is his first known official post in Ireland.''Close Roll 42 Edward III'': at Carlow, dated 5 November 1368 He achieved high office in the political and judicial spheres, being appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland in 1376, and serving as Lord Treasurer 1400–1402. In 1381 Bache, by now a judge, and John Brettan, a judicial colleague who was also the Remembrancer of the Exchequer of Ireland, petitioned the Crown for compensation, on the ground that they had been at great labour to levy and collect the King's debts in seven counties, without any reward.''Close Roll 2 Richard II'' Bache was awarded £6, and Brettan £4.

He was appointed a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) in 1380, and became Chief Baron two years later, with the proviso that he held the office "so long as he was of good behaviour". Barker, Travis R. ed. ''"Law and Society in Later Medieval England and Ireland: Essays in honour of Paul Brand"'' Routledge Oxford 2018 fn.141 His joint petition with Brettan of 1381 shows him to have been conscientious and hard-working. There was at least one complaint against him of high-handed behaviour by the Mayor of Dublin, who alleged in 1390 that Bache had wrongfully imposed a fine on Dublin Corporation; on hearing his petition, the Crown forgave the fine.''Close Roll 13 Richard II'' He was twice superseded as Chief Baron, but was reappointed on both occasions before retiring for good in 1405. He was ex officio a member of the Privy Council of Ireland and we have a record of his attendance at the Council meeting in October 1391.''Patent Roll 15 Richard II'' He also served as Deputy Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1398, during a vacancy in the office. In 1403 he was granted letters of protection by the Crown.''Patent Roll 5 Henry IV''

He probably died in 1410. He was certainly dead by 1412, when William Yonge was appointed to Bache's old office of Archdeacon of Meath.''Patent Roll 13 Henry IV''

References

1410 deaths
Italian emigrants to Ireland
Year of birth unknown
Chief Barons of the Irish Exchequer
Archdeacons of Dublin
Archdeacons of Meath
14th-century Genoese people

{{Ireland-reli-bio-stub