James Hewitt, 1st Viscount Lifford (28 April 1712 – 28 April 1789) was an

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 ...

politician, lawyer and judge. He served as

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 ...

from 1767 to 1789.

Background

Hewitt was the son of a

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...

, William Hewitt (1683–1747), who was born in Rockcliffe,

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

, the son of James Hewitt and Mary Urwin. The judge's mother was Hannah Lewis. His brother, William Hewitt (1719–1781), was Governor-general of the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, a position he obtained through his brother's influence with the Government. In a class-conscious age, his background was something of a handicap, and his "small-town" manners were the subject of unkind comments throughout his life.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926 Vol. 2 p.257

Career

Hewitt first worked as an attorney's

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

. By 1742, he had become a

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 ...

. Rising quickly through the legal profession, his career climaxed when he was made

in 1767, a post he held until his death in 1789.Ball p.157 He was raised to the

Peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

as Baron Lifford, of

Lifford Lifford (, historically anglicised as ''Liffer'') is the county town of County Donegal, Ireland, the administrative centre of the county and the seat of Donegal County Council, although the town of Letterkenny is often mistaken as holding th ...

in the

County of Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

, in 1768, and was further honoured when he was made Viscount Lifford in 1781, also in the Irish peerage. He was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

for 1761 to 1766. He was not highly regarded as a Parliamentarian: his fellow MPs complained that his speeches were almost inaudible.

Character and Reputation

Lord Lifford made his reputation as

: until then he had the name of being a "dull, heavy lawyer", an uninspiring though "safe" MP, and a man of mediocre intelligence, who was painfully conscious of his rather humble origins. Even the Government which chose him, while praising him as a good lawyer and an honest man, was rather doubtful that he had the necessary strength of character to be an effective Lord Chancellor, while the English Bench reacted to his appointment with general ridicule. They were quickly proved wrong: within two years of his arrival in Ireland, Lord Lifford was earning the highest praises as a judge. As his colleague in the Irish Government John Hely-Hutchinson (not a man normally given to speaking well of others) wrote to a friend- "He does his business very ably and expeditiously and to the general satisfaction of suitors and practicers in this country, where he is much respected and a very popular character and is, in his public and private deportment, a most worthy, honest anamiable man." His efficiency in doing business was such that it was said that virtually all equity litigation in his time was diverted to Chancery (this may have been partly because the Court of Exchequer, which had a competing

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

jurisdiction, was notoriously slow and inefficient; it had been described earlier in the century as being in a state of "confusion and disorder beyond remedy"). Barristers who practised in his court, like

John Philpot Curran John Philpot Curran (24 July 1750 – 14 October 1817) was an Irish orator, politician, wit, lawyer and judge, who held the office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland. He was renowned for his representation in 1780 of Father Neale, a Catholic prie ...

, fondly recalled "the great Lord Lifford" after his death, and cited him as a model for other judges to follow.

Family

Lord Lifford married firstly Mary Rhys Williams, daughter of the Rev. Rhys (or Price) Williams of

Stapleford Abbotts Stapleford Abbotts is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, approximately SW of Ongar, N of Romford and SSE of Epping. The whole parish is within the M25 motorway. The village covers and had a population of 959 ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, Archdeacon of Carmarthen, in 1749, by whom he had four sons, including James, his heir, John, Dean of Cloyne, and Joseph Hewitt (1754–1794), justice of the

Court of King's Bench (Ireland) The Court of King's Bench (of Queen's Bench when the sovereign was female, and formerly of Chief Place or Chief Pleas) 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 King's Be ...

. She died in 1765. His second wife was Ambrosia Bayley, daughter of the Rev. Charles Bayley of

Navestock Navestock is a civil parish in the Borough of Brentwood in south Essex, in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. It is located approximately northwest of the town of Brentwood and the M25 motorway cuts through the western edge of t ...

and Elizabeth Beck, whom he married in 1766: her youth and beauty aroused much admiration in Ireland. By Ambrosia, he had one further son and two daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son,

James Hewitt, 2nd Viscount Lifford James Hewitt, 2nd Viscount Lifford (27 October 1750 – 15 April 1830), was an Anglo-Irish peer and Church of Ireland clergyman. Hewitt was the eldest son of James Hewitt, 1st Viscount Lifford, and his first wife Mary Rhys Williams. The Hewitt ...

(1750–1830). He lived at Belvedere House, Drumcondra. Ambrosia died in 1807.

Arms

References

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lifford, James Hewitt, 1st Viscount 1712 births 1789 deaths 18th-century Anglo-Irish people Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland Peers of Ireland created by George III Lord chancellors of Ireland Justices of the King's Bench Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1761–1768 Members of Parliament for Coventry People from the City of Carlisle