Thomas Dowdall, also spelt Dowdale, Douedall, or Dowedall, (died 1492) 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 judge who held the office of

Master of the Rolls in Ireland The Master of the Rolls in Ireland was a senior judicial office in the Irish Chancery under English and British rule, and was equivalent to the Master of the Rolls in the English Chancery. Originally called the Keeper of the Rolls, he was respons ...

.Ball pp.182-3 He was born in

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

, son of Sir

Robert Dowdall Sir Robert Dowdall (died 1482) was an Irish judge who held the office of Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas for more than forty years. He is mainly remembered today for the murderous assault on him by Sir James Keating, the Prior of Kilmain ...

, who was for many years

Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas The chief justice of the Common Pleas for Ireland was the presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland, which was known in its early years as the Court of Common Bench, or simply as "the Bench", or "the Dublin bench". It was one of the s ...

. After the death of Thomas's mother, of whom nothing is known, his father in 1454 remarried Anne Wogan, daughter and co-heiress of John Wogan of

Rathcoffey Rathcoffey () is a village in County Kildare, Ireland, around 30 km west of Dublin city centre. It had a population of 271 as of 2016 census. The village church, Rathcoffey Church, is part of the Clane & Rathcoffey Parish, and was built in 1710 ...

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, ...

, and widow of Oliver Eustace of Castlemartin.Ball pp.177-8 The

Dowdall Dowdall is an Irish surname. The earliest forms of spelling were: Dowdell, Dowdale and Dowdle. Dowdall was first used as a surname in Yorkshire, certainly by the time of the Norman conquest of England. The Irish Dowdalls came from the valley of Do ...

(or Dovedale) family came to Ireland from

Dovedale Dovedale is a valley in the Peak District of England. The land is owned by the National Trust and attracts a million visitors annually. The valley was cut by the River Dove, Central England, River Dove and runs for just over between Milldale ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in the thirteenth century. Sir Thomas Dowdall, who married c.1450 Elizabeth Holywood, daughter of Sir Robert Holywood of Artane, and mother through her previous husband James Nugent of Richard, 2nd

Baron Delvin Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher th ...

, was probably a close relative of the judge. Elizabeth Hollywood's third husband was Peter Trevers, Dowdall's predecessor as Master of the Rolls, an example of how small the

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

ruling class was in that era. Through his stepmother's first marriage he also had a useful connection to two of the leading families of County Kildare. He was studying law at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1459 (Ireland had no law school of its own until 1541), where he was referred to as Thomas Dowdale.Kenny p.19 He returned to Ireland and was made

Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) This is a list of lawyers who held the rank of serjeant-at-law at the Irish Bar. Origins of the office of serjeant The first recorded serjeant was Roger Owen, who was appointed between 1261 and 1266, although the title itself was not commonly ...

in 1462:Hart p.20 he was confirmed in office by

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in December 1470. He was also referred to as King's Attorney, and Pleader. In 1471 he was described as a "counter" (this was an office in 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 ...

) and later that year he was appointed Master of the Rolls (he is described as Pleader rather than Serjeant).''Statute 11 and 12 Edward IV c.13''. He was granted the royal manor of Esker, near

Lucan, Dublin Lucan ( ; ga, Leamhcán) is a town in Ireland, located 12 km west of Dublin city centre on the River Liffey. It is near the Strawberry Beds and Lucan Weir, and at the confluence of the River Griffeen. It is mostly under the jurisdiction o ...

, for life: Esker was normally granted to Crown servants in good standing.''Patent Roll 11 Edward IV'' In 1476 he was a party to the royal

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

setting up the Glovers and Skinners Guild,''Patent Roll 16 Edward IV '' and in 1478 he was party to a similar charter setting up the Dublin Baker's Guild (or the

Guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

of St. Clement and St Anne). He was summoned to England on official business in 1479, when

Thomas Archbold Thomas Archbold, or Thomas Galmole (died after 1506) was a goldsmith and silver worker, who evidently qualified as a lawyer, and rose to become a senior Crown official and judge in Ireland in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. He w ...

, the

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 ...

, acted as his Deputy.Smyth, Constantine Joseph ''Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland'' London Butterworths 1839 p.54 He succeeded to his father's estates in 1482. Like the great majority of the

gentry and the High Court judges, he made the mistake of supporting the claims of the

pretender A pretender is someone who claims to be the rightful ruler of a country although not recognized as such by the current government. The term is often used to suggest that a claim is not legitimate.Curley Jr., Walter J. P. ''Monarchs-in-Waiting'' ...

Lambert Simnel Lambert Simnel (c. 1477 – after 1534) was a pretender to the throne of England. In 1487, his claim to be Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, threatened the newly established reign of Henry VII (1485–1509). Simnel became the f ...

in 1487 to be the rightful

King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...

. Simnel's cause was crushed at the

Battle of Stoke Field The Battle of Stoke Field on 16 June 1487 may be considered the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, since it was the last major engagement between contenders for the throne whose claims derived from descent from the houses of Lancaster and Yo ...

. The victorious King Henry VII was prepared to be magnanimous to the defeated rebels, and Dowdall and all his judicial colleagues received a

royal pardon In the English and British tradition, the royal prerogative of mercy is one of the historic royal prerogatives of the British monarch, by which they can grant pardons (informally known as a royal pardon) to convicted persons. The royal preroga ...

.He probably died in 1492. James Dowdall,

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge i ...

1583–84, was a descendant of Thomas.

References

*Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'' John Murray London 1926 *''A Calendar of Irish Chancery Rolls c.1244-1509'' *Hart, A.R. ''History of the King's Serjeants-at-law in Ireland'' Four Courts Press Dublin 2000 *Kenny, Colum ''King's Inns and the Kingdom of Ireland'' Dublin Irish Academic Press 1992 *''Statute of the Irish Parliament 11 and 12 Edward IV (1470-71) c.13... Confirmation of Patent making Thomas Douedall Keeper of the Rolls''

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowdall, Thomas People from County Louth Members of Lincoln's Inn 15th-century births 1490s deaths 15th-century Irish judges Masters of the Rolls in Ireland Serjeants-at-law (Ireland)