James Barry, 1st Baron Barry of Santry PC (Ire) (1603–1673) was an Irish lawyer,

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

and peer.

Early life

Barry was the son of Richard Barry and his wife Anne Cusacke; Anne was the daughter of John Cusacke of

Rathgar Rathgar () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (off ...

Castle and his wife Margaret Gough (née Allen). His father and both his grandfathers were wealthy merchants of

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, his grandfather James Barry having been Sheriff of Dublin City, while his father was

Lord Mayor of Dublin The Lord Mayor of Dublin () is the honorary title of the chairperson ( ) of Dublin City Council which is the local government body for the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The incumbent, since December 2024, is Fine Gael councillor Emma ...

(1610–11) and representative in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

for

(1613–15). His maternal grandfather

John Cusacke John Cusacke (died 1626) was a wealthy merchant, landowner and local politician in seventeenth-century Dublin, who served as both Mayor and Sheriff of Dublin city. He was born in County Meath, eldest of the ten children of Patrick Cusacke of Bal ...

had also been Mayor from 1608–1609. Nicholas Kerdiffe, a senior Law Officer, married his aunt. He married Catharine Parsons (daughter of Sir William Parsons and Elizabeth Lany), by whom he had four sons and four daughters, including Richard, his heir, and Dorothy, who married Sir John Feilding, secretary to the

Governor of Jamaica This is a list of viceroys in Jamaica from its initial occupation by Spain in 1509, to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. For a list of viceroys after independence, see Governor-General of Jamaica. For context, see History of Jama ...

. His favourite sister Anne married

James Donnellan Sir James Donnellan (c. 1588 – 1665) was an Irish lawyer and politician, who became Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas in 1660. He was unusual among the Irish judges of the time in being of Gaelic descent, and more remarkable in that his ...

, later

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 ...

, but died young: her brother and her husband remained close throughout their lives. Adam Cusack,

Chief Justice of Connacht The chief justice of Connacht was the senior of the judges who assisted the Lord President of Connaught in judicial matters. Despite the chief justice's title, full judicial powers were vested in the Lord President, whose office was established in ...

, was a cousin in the next generation of James on his mother's side. He graduated from

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, on 27 April 1621 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(B.A.). He gained a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(M.A.) from Trinity College, Dublin, in June 1624.

Career

He was admitted to

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

on 11 July 1621. In 1628 he served as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

, and he was appointed

Recorder of Dublin The Recorder of Dublin was a judicial office holder in pre-Independence Ireland. Functions and duties of the Recorder The Recorder was the chief magistrate for Dublin, and heard a wide range of civil and criminal cases. The office existed by th ...

. Other appointments included Prime Sergeant, 6 October 1629. He was admitted to

King's Inn The Honorable Society of King's Inns () is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environments. The Benchers of King's Inns awa ...

, 15 April 1630, (he served twice as its treasurer) and was Member of Parliament for Lismore in 1634. He became second Baron of 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 jus ...

, 5 August 1634, through the influence of Lord Wentworth. He published in 1637, at the request of Lord Wentworth, to whom he dedicated it, ''The Case of Tenures upon the Commission of Defective Titles, argued by all the Judges of Ireland, with the Resolution and the Reasons of their Resolution'', a crucial test case from the Crown's point of view. In 1640 he used what influence he had, but in vain, with

Sir James Ware Sir James Ware (26 November 1594 – 1 December 1666) was an Anglo-Irish historian. Personal details Born at Castle Street, Dublin on 26 November 1594, James Ware was the eldest son of Sir James Ware (1568–1632) and Mary Bryden, daughter of ...

and other members of the

, to prevent their sending a committee of their body to England to impeach the

Earl of Strafford Earl of Strafford is a title that has been created three times in English and British history. The first creation was in the Peerage of England in January 1640 for Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, the 1st Viscount Wentworth, the clo ...

, as Wentworth now was. History says nothing of his life for the next twenty years. He was chairman of the Royalist Convention, 7 July 1659. This met at Dublin in defiance of the government. It voted for the unconditional

Restoration of Charles II The Stuart Restoration was the reinstatement in May 1660 of the Stuart monarchy in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland. It replaced the Commonwealth of England, established in January 164 ...

. In November 1660, "in consideration of his many good services to

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

and his eminent loyalty to Charles II", he became

Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for 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 ...

, and

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are current or former ...

. He was appointed a commissioner to execute the King's Declaration which ultimately led to the

Act of Settlement 1662 The Act of Settlement 1662 ( 14 & 15 Chas. 2. Sess. 4. c. 2 (I)) was an act of the Irish Parliament in Dublin. It was a partial reversal of the Cromwellian Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652, which punished Irish Catholics and Royalists ...

. He was accused, rather obscurely, of being "a cold friend" to the Declaration, and this, as well as his increasing infirmity, was one of the "material objections" which led to his being rejected as Speaker of the

Irish House of Lords The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until the end of 1800. It was also the final court of appeal of the Kingdom of Ireland. It was modelled on the House of Lords of Englan ...

. However, he did sit on the Lords Committee to consider the state of the Irish

coinage Coinage may refer to: * Coins, standardized as currency * Coining (mint), the process of manufacturing coins * '' COINage'', a numismatics magazine * Tin coinage, a tax on refined tin * Coinage, a protologism or neologism In linguistics, a neolo ...

. As Treasurer and Council member of the King's Inns he was accused of being dilatory and inefficient, perhaps as a result of the "infirmity" referred to above.

Ennoblement

He was created 1st Baron Barry of

Santry Santry () is a suburb on the northside of Dublin, Ireland, bordering Coolock, Glasnevin, Kilmore and Ballymun. It straddles the boundary of Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council jurisdictions. The character of the area has chang ...

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

on 18 February 1661. His residence was at Santry. His portrait is the oldest now in the possession of the King's Inns.

Death

He died on 9 February 1673 and was buried on 14 February 1673 in St. Mary's Chapel,

Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (Irish: ''Ardeaglais Theampall Chríost''), is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the ecclesiastical province of the Uni ...

. His eldest son Richard succeeded as second Baron Barry. The fourth and last Baron was a notorious

murderer Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...

: the title became extinct on his death in 1751.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Barry Of Santry, James Barry, 1st Baron 1603 births 1673 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Barons in the Peerage of Ireland Peers of Ireland created by Charles II Irish barristers Politicians from County Dublin Members of Lincoln's Inn Barry, James Members of the Privy Council of Ireland 17th-century Irish lawyers Lords chief justice of Ireland Recorders of Dublin Serjeants-at-law (Ireland)