Nehemiah Donnellan (1649 – 25 December 1705) was an Irish lawyer and

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 ...

.Ball pp.62-3

Early life

He was the son of Sir

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 ...

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 ...

, and grandson of

Nehemiah Donnellan Nehemiah Donnellan (a.k.a. Fearganainm Ó Domhnalláin) (fl. c. 1560–1609) was Archbishop of Tuam. Background Donellan was born in the county of Galway, a son of Mael Sechlainn Ó Dónalláin, by his wife Sisly, daughter of William Ó Cell ...

Archbishop of Tuam The Archbishop of Tuam ( ; ) is an Episcopal polity, archbishop which takes its name after the town of Tuam in County Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The title was used by the Church of Ireland until 1839, and is still in use by the Cathol ...

and Elizabeth O'Donnell. His mother was Sarah Wheeler, daughter of Jonas Wheeler,

Bishop of Ossory . The Bishop of Ossory () is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient of Kingdom of Ossory in the Provinces of Ireland, Province of Leinster, Ireland. In the Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but i ...

and his wife Martha Tucker; Sarah was the widow of Mathew Tyrrell,

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 ...

. 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 Unive ...

in 1666. Although he had originally intended to become a soldier, he resolved on a legal career instead, and entered

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1669. He seems to have been an exceptionally unruly student: he was fined for breaking down the doors of the Temple and for gambling at Christmas. He was called to the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland () is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Bar of Ireland, commonly c ...

about 1672 and became Commissioner of Revenue Appeals in 1677. After the Revolution of 1688 he and his mother and his children lived for a time in England. He was appointed Prime Serjeant on 29 December 1692 and represented the borough of

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

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, ...

from 1692 to 1693. In 1693 he was made

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 ...

Judge

He was raised to the High Court bench as a Puisne Baron of the Irish Court of Exchequer in 1695, and on 31 December 1696 was made one of the Commissioners of the

Great Seal of Ireland The Great Seal of Ireland was the Seal (emblem), seal used until 1922 by the Dublin Castle administration to authenticate important state documents in Ireland, in the same manner as the Great Seal of the Realm in England. The Great Seal of Irela ...

, pending the appointment of John Methuen as

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, commonly known as the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was the highest ranking judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 until the end of 1800, it was also the hi ...

in 1697. He became

Chief Baron of the Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who pres ...

on 27 December 1703, holding the office until his death. His elevation to the Bench was said to be part of an effort to remove judges who were suspected of

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

or pro-Catholic views; but it is surprising that Donnellan, who was a descendant of an Old Irish,

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

-speaking family which had several

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

members, was not suspected of Catholic sympathies himself. As regards his political beliefs, Ball suggests rather cynically that he had found it expedient to change them, and that he was no more convinced a Whig than he had been a Tory. In 1698 the Irish-born writer and publisher John Dunton, on a visit to Dublin, gave a favourable verdict on the Irish judiciary, including Donnellan: "men whose reputation is such that no one complains of them".

Family

He married twice; little is known of his first wife, who died before 1688, leaving one surviving son, James, and a daughter. He remarried Martha Ussher, daughter of Christopher Ussher, who outlived him by many years (they are said to have become estranged), and married secondly Phillip Perceval, brother of the 1st

Earl of Egmont Earl of Egmont was a title in the Peerage of Ireland, created in 1733 for John Perceval, 1st Viscount Perceval. It became extinct with the death of the twelfth earl in 2011. History The Percevals claimed descent from an ancient Anglo-Norman ...

. Nehemiah and Martha had two sons, Nehemiah, MP for

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

, and Christopher, and two daughters, Katherine and

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), Annie a ...

(died 1762). His daughter Anne is remembered today as the friend of the leading Irish writers of her time, and for founding the Donnellan Lectures at Trinity College Dublin. Her sister Katherine married Robert Clayton,

Bishop of Cork and Ross The Bishop of Cork and Ross is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Cork and the County Cork town of Rosscarbery in the Republic of Ireland. The combined title was first used by the Church of Ireland from 1638 to 1660 and ...

. The artist and letter-writer Mary Delaney wrote an unflattering sketch of Katherine as "giving herself the airs of a Queen" after her husband was made a bishop. She may well have come to regret his promotion, as his religious opinions were so unorthodox as to raise doubts as to whether he was a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

at all.

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

said unkindly that Clayton's writings seemed calculated to destroy anyone's Christian faith, and it seems that only his sudden death in 1758 averted an inquiry by his fellow bishops into charges of

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...

against him.Walpole p.79 Robert and Katherine Clayton

References

* * Joseph Haydn and Horace Ockerby, ''The Book of Dignities'', 3rd edition, London 1894 (reprinted Bath 1969) * Gerard, Frances ''Picturesque Dublin Old and New'' Hutchinson and Co London 1898 * Kenny, Colum ''Kings' Inns and the Kingdom of Ireland'' Irish Academic Press Dublin 1992 *

''Memoirs and Portraits'' B.T. Batsford Ltd. London 1963 * *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donnellan, Nehemiah 1649 births 1705 deaths Irish MPs 1692–1693 Lawyers from Dublin (city) Lawyers from County Galway Members of the Middle Temple Chief Barons of the Irish Exchequer Recorders of Dublin Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Galway constituencies Serjeants-at-law (Ireland) Alumni of Trinity College Dublin