Thomas Dalton (died 23 June 1730) was an English-born judge in Ireland, who became

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 ...

. Dalton was born in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, the eldest son of the Reverend Peter Dalton. His mother belonged to the prominent Dominick family of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, who gave their name to Dominick Street in Dublin city centre. Sir Christopher Dominick (died 1743), who began laying out the street in the 1720s, was his uncle. He graduated from

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

in 1702 and became a fellow of

All Souls' College All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically b ...

in 1706. He was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1711. In 1725 he was appointed Lord Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer and held that office until his death in 1730, aged about fifty-five. He was buried in St Andrew's Church, Dublin. He was married to Jane Dyott, whose father Richard Dyott was the owner of the infamous

rookery (slum) A rookery is a colloquial English term given in the 18th and 19th centuries to a city slum occupied by poor people and frequently also by criminals and prostitutes. Such areas were overcrowded, with low-quality housing and little or no sanitat ...

in the parish of

St Giles, London St Giles is an area in the West End of London in the London Borough of Camden. It gets its name from the parish church of St Giles in the Fields. The combined parishes of St Giles in the Fields and St George Bloomsbury (which was carved out o ...

, generally considered one of the worst slums not only in London but in the whole of Britain. According to a lawsuit over an

annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals.Kellison, Stephen G. (1970). ''The Theory of Interest''. Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc. p. 45 Examples of annuities are regular deposits to a savings account, mo ...

(bequeathed to him in

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

by a certain Lady Wych), which was resolved some four years after his death, Dalton had one son, also named Thomas, who was still a minor at the time of his father's death. Archbishop Boulter after his death wrote compassionately of "his family, who suffered (i.e. financially) from his coming here".Letter from Archbishop Boulter to

Sir Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...

24 June 1730 According to Elrington Ball, during his years at Oxford he had a reputation for pride and arrogance; enemies called him a ''proud empty Whig'', who offended his

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

opponents by throwing a celebration dinner on each anniversary of the

execution of Charles I The execution of Charles I by beheading occurred on Tuesday, 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall. The execution was the culmination of political and military conflicts between the royalists and the parliamentarians in Eng ...

. However, he earned a good reputation as Chief Baron and after his premature death tributes were paid in verse to him as a "learned and unbiased judge." Dalton's high reputation in Ireland is confirmed by a letter written by

Hugh Boulter Hugh Boulter (4 January 1672 – 27 September 1742) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, from 1724 until his death. He also served as the chaplain to George I from 1719. Background and education Boulter wa ...

, the influential

Archbishop of Armagh In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

, who was consulted on all senior judicial appointments. Richard West, the

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland (commonly known as Lord Chancellor of Ireland) was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801, it was also the highest political office of ...

, had died suddenly at the end of 1726: Boulter wrote to the

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...

Lord Granville Earl Granville is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is now held by members of the Leveson-Gower family. First creation The first creation came in the Pee ...

, recommending Thomas Wyndham, who was successful in obtaining the office. Should Wyndham prove unsuitable for any reason, the Archbishop recommended Dalton, as "having a very good character here, and being well skilled in the affairs of Ireland." After Dalton's death Boulter wrote that the Crown had never had a more zealous, able and diligent servant. Dalton died on 23 June 1730, after a short illness.''Historical Register'' October 1730 According to his friends the crushing workload in 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 ...

hastened his end.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalton, Thomas Lawyers from Hampshire 1730 deaths Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford 18th-century English judges Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Year of birth unknown Chief Barons of the Irish Exchequer