Sir Richard Cox, 1st Baronet
PC (25 March 1650 – 3 May 1733) was an Irish lawyer and judge. He served as
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas for Ireland from 1701 to 1703,
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 ...
from 1703 to 1707 and as
Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench for Ireland from 1711 to 1714.
Early life
Cox was born in
Bandon, County Cork, Ireland. He was the great-great-grandson of
Richard Cox (died 1581),
Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with ...
from 1559 to 1581 and
Chancellor of Oxford from 1547 to 1552. His family had arrived from
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
in about 1600 and was dispossessed in the
Irish Rebellion of 1641
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 was an uprising in Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, initiated on 23 October 1641 by Catholic gentry and military officers. Their demands included an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and ...
. His father was Captain Richard Cox II (1610–1651) and his mother was Katherine Bird, daughter of Walter Bird, and widow of Captain Thomas Batten. She was born in
Clonakilty
Clonakilty (; ), sometimes shortened to Clon, is a town in County Cork, Ireland. The town is at the head of the tidal Clonakilty Bay. The rural hinterland is used mainly for dairy farming. The town's population was 5,112 at the 2022 census. T ...
, County Cork, Ireland, and died in 1651/52, probably in Bandon. Her death was generally said to be caused by grief for her second husband, who was
murdered
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 excu ...
by one Captain Norton in 1651 in unexplained circumstances. Richard was thus orphaned by the age of three and was raised by his maternal grandparents and his uncle John Bird in County Cork. He went to school in Clonakilty, and then by his own account spent "three years idling". Having inherited a small property from his grandfather, he went to England to study law.
Career
He qualified at
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...
, London, in 1673, and was
apprenticed in the
manorial courts of the
Earl of Cork
Earl of Cork is a title in the Peerage of Ireland, held in conjunction with the Earldom of Orrery since 1753. It was created in 1620 for Richard Boyle, 1st Baron Boyle. He had already been created Lord Boyle, Baron of Youghal, in the County ...
. In 1674, apparently on the advice of his uncle John, he made an imprudent marriage to Mary Bourne, a girl of fifteen, whose family he later claimed had grossly deceived him as to the size of her
dowry
A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage.
Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...
. Although the marriage itself was happy enough, he quarrelled bitterly with his mother-in-law about the dowry, retired to the country for a time, and then resolved to make his fortune at the
Irish Bar. He built up a lucrative legal practice, was appointed
Recorder of Clonakilty in 1675 and
Recorder of Kinsale, and acquired an estate in
Clonakilty
Clonakilty (; ), sometimes shortened to Clon, is a town in County Cork, Ireland. The town is at the head of the tidal Clonakilty Bay. The rural hinterland is used mainly for dairy farming. The town's population was 5,112 at the 2022 census. T ...
in about 1687; but he lost his recorderships after the accession of
James II. He moved to
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, where he practised 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 ...
. There he became acquainted with the Irish-born
diplomat
A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...
Sir Robert Southwell, later to be
Secretary of State (Ireland). Southwell introduced him to the
Duke of Ormonde, who acted thereafter as his patron.
Politician and judge
He returned to Ireland and fought at the
Boyne in 1690. Following William's victory at the Boyne, Cox drafted the
Declaration of Finglas
The Declaration of Finglas was issued on 17 July 1690 by William III of Ireland at Finglas in County Dublin, shortly after his Williamite army's decisive victory at the Battle of the Boyne during the War of the Two Kings.
The Declaration was is ...
offering full protection (in effect a
pardon
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...
) to all
Jacobites who laid down arms by 1 August 1690, (later extended to 25 August), other than those described as "the desperate leaders of the Rebellion". The King praised Cox's drafting of the Declaration highly, saying that he had not needed to change a word of it. He was
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
on 5 November 1692 by
King William, who had great respect for him, and then became a
baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
on 21 November 1706. He was made Recorder of
Waterford
Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...
and second justice of the
Court of Common Pleas (Ireland)
The Court of Common Pleas was one of the principal courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. Common Pleas was one of the four courts of justice which gave the Four Courts in Dublin, which is sti ...
in 1690. He was subsequently appointed military governor of Cork and
Constable of Castle Maine in 1691, and a member of the
Privy Council of Ireland
His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...
in 1692.
He approved of the
Treaty of Limerick
The Treaty of Limerick (), signed on 3 October 1691, ended the Williamite War in Ireland, a conflict related to the Nine Years' War (1688–1697). It consisted of two separate agreements, one with military terms of surrender, signed by commander ...
, which offered generous terms to the defeated Jacobites. When it became clear that the Government would not honour the terms of the Treaty, Cox denounced this as a breach of trust, and was in political disgrace for a time as a result, being dismissed from the Privy Council in 1695. This was only a temporary career setback: he became
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 ...
in 1701, and was reappointed to the Privy Council the same year.
Although he maintained that as a matter of simple justice, they should receive the toleration they were promised under the Treaty of Limerick, Cox was no friend to
Roman Catholics
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 ...
. He fully supported the strict enforcement, and indeed the extension, of the
Penal Laws
Penal law refers to criminal law.
It may also refer to:
* Penal law (British), laws to uphold the establishment of the Church of England against Catholicism
* Penal laws (Ireland)
In Ireland, the penal laws () were a series of Disabilities (C ...
, and as Lord Chancellor, he oversaw the passage of the
Popery Act 1704 (2 Anne c. 6 (I)), which was generally seen as an effort to eliminate the Catholic landowning class entirely.
He became Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1703 and then
Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench
The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales.
Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English and ...
from 1711 to 1714, after being dismissed in 1707 for his opposition to the proposed repeal of the
sacrament
A sacrament is a Christian rite which is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence, number and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol ...
al test for religious
dissenters
A dissenter (from the Latin , 'to disagree') is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Dissent may include political opposition to decrees, ideas or doctrines and it may include opposition to those things or the fiat of ...
in that year. He escaped
impeachment
Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In Eur ...
when his great patron Ormonde defected to the
Jacobite cause in 1715 and fled to
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, due to lack of hard evidence of his complicity in Ormonde's treason.
Publications
He was the author of an early history of Ireland as regarded from the standpoint of the
New English; ''Hibernia Anglicana'', or, The History of Ireland (1689–90), (called 'trite' by Oxford Dictionary of National Biography); purporting to be the first chronological history of Ireland, and incidentally attacking "the ridiculous stories which they have publish of the Firbolgs and Tuah-de-danans". When
Aodh Buí Mac Cruitín, hereditary poet to the O'Briens of Thomond and a representative of the Gaelic literati, in the preface of 'A Brief Discourse in Vindication of the Antiquity of Ireland', published in 1717, refuted some of the statements made in 'Hibernia Anglicana', Cox had him imprisoned in New Gate prison for one year.
Later years
He lived 20 years in retirement before his death, from apoplexy, in the Great Hall of the
Royal Hospital, Kilmainham.
He devoted much effort in his later years to improving the town of
Dunmanway
Dunmanway (, official Irish name: ) is a market town in County Cork, in the southwest of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the geographical centre of the region known as West Cork. It is the birthplace of Sam Maguire, an Irish Protestant repub ...
: he obtained a
royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...
to hold fairs and market days in the town and did much to encourage the local
flax
Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. In 2022, France produced 75% of t ...
industry. Thanks largely to his efforts, by the time of his death Dunmanway was a flourishing little town of some 600 citizens.
Personal life
He was married to Mary Bourne, daughter of John Bourne, on 26 February 1674. She was born in 1658 in County Cork, Ireland, and died on 1 June 1715. Cox praised her as a very good wife while admitting frankly that he might not have married her if he had known how small her fortune was (this was the cause of a bitter family quarrel). They had numerous children: Cox himself mentions twenty-one, though only fifteen can be identified with certainty, some of whom died in infancy. Of those (probably seven in number, two sons and five daughters) who reached adulthood, the eldest son, also Richard, predeceased his father. A younger son,
Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* he He ..., a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name
* Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...
, was
Archbishop of Cashel
The Archbishop of Cashel () was an archiepiscopal title which took its name after the town of Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland. Following the Reformation, there had been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church ...
from 1754 to 1779, and built a magnificent mansion, Castletown Cox, which still exists. The eldest daughter Amy married Sir William Mansel, the seventh of the
Mansel baronets in 1700, and had five children, including Sir Richard Mansel, 8th Baronet. Her sister Mary married Arthur Riggs in 1701; after his death, she remarried Rev. Nicholas Skolfield, Vicar of
Drinagh.
Cox's letters give vivid evidence of a lively and charming personality:
[Ball ''The Judges in Ireland''] he welcomes additions to his numerous offspring, describes the pleasures of good food and drink, and his love of music and fine clothes. In character, he was strictly honest and upright and was in general considered to be a good judge, though his prejudice against Catholics meant that he cannot have been impartial in cases raising a question of religion.
Cox died of
apoplexy
Apoplexy () refers to the rupture of an internal organ and the associated symptoms. Informally or metaphorically, the term ''apoplexy'' is associated with being furious, especially as "apoplectic". Historically, it described what is now known as a ...
on 3 May 1733. His grandson Sir Richard Cox, 2nd Baronet (1702–1766) succeeded to the title and estates.
References
Ball. F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926
External links
Sir Richard's DescendantsA short family tree of Sir Richard
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Richard
1650 births
1733 deaths
Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland
Members of Gray's Inn
People from Bandon, County Cork
Williamite military personnel of the Williamite War in Ireland
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Lords chief justice of Ireland
Chief justices of the Irish Common Pleas
Lord chancellors of Ireland
Lawyers from County Cork
17th-century Irish judges
18th-century Irish judges