Walter de Wogan (died after 1328) was a Welsh-born Irish administrator, soldier and

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

of the early fourteenth century. He was a younger son of

John Wogan Sir John Wogan (1588–1644) was a Welsh politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1644. Wogan was the son of Sir William Wogan of Wiston, Pembrokeshire, and his wife Sybil Owen, the daughter of Sir Hugh Owen of ...

(died 1321), who was

Justiciar of Ireland The chief governor was the senior official in the Dublin Castle administration, which maintained English and British rule in Ireland from the 1170s to 1922. The chief governor was the viceroy of the English monarch (and later the British monarch) ...

from 1295 to 1313.Ball ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' p.64 Originally a

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

man, John acquired substantial estates at

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, ...

. Much about the details of his family life is disputed, including the names and number of his children, although Walter's existence and paternity are not in doubt. He was probably a child of his father's first marriage to Joan Picton, daughter of Sir William Picton of

Picton Castle Picton Castle ( cy, Castell Pictwn) is a medieval castle near Haverfordwest in the community of Uzmaston, Boulston and Slebech, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Originally built at the end of the 13th century by a Flemish knight, it later came into the han ...

, Pembrokeshire. Walter gave good service to the

English Crown This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself King of the Anglo-Sax ...

during the

Bruce campaign in Ireland The Bruce campaign was a three-year military campaign in Ireland by Edward Bruce, brother of the Scottish king Robert the Bruce. It lasted from his landing at Larne in 1315 to his defeat and death in 1318 at the Battle of Faughart in County Lo ...

of 1315-18. He was appointed a justice of the Justiciar's Court in 1318, and became second justice of the Court in 1324. He also spent some time in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

on the King's business. He was appointed

Escheator Escheat is a common law doctrine that transfers the real property of a person who has died without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in "limbo" without recognized ownership. It originally applied to a ...

of Ireland in 1328, charged with ensuring the reversion to the Crown of all lands whose

tenant in chief In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as oppos ...

had died without

heirs Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officially ...

. His date of death is not recorded. His brother John was also a justice of the Irish Justiciar's Court.

Sources

*Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926 *Mackay, Ronan "Wogan, John" ''Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography''

Notes

{{reflist 14th-century Irish judges People from Pembrokeshire Lawyers from County Kildare