William Downes, 1st Baron Downes PC (1751 – 3 March 1826) was one of the leading Irish judges of his time, who held office as

Lord Chief Justice of 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 ...

Family

Downes was the second son of Robert Downes (1708-1754) of

Donnybrook Castle Donnybrook may refer to: Places Australia * Donnybrook, Queensland, Australia * Donnybrook, Western Australia * Donnybrook, Victoria, Australia ** Donnybrook railway station, Victoria, Australia Canada * Donnybrook, Ontario, a former village ...

, Dublin, MP for

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 10,302, making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. It is home to Kildare Cathedral, historically the site of an important abbey said to have been founded by Saint ...

, and his wife Elizabeth Twigge, daughter of William Twigge, also of Donnybrook; he was a grandson of Dive Downes,

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 ...

and his fourth wife Catherine Fitzgerald. The Downes family came originally from

Thornby, Northamptonshire Thornby is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire in England. It has a Manor house. At the time of the 2001 United Kingdom census, 2001 census, the parish's population was 162 people, increasing to 189 at the 2011 Census. The villag ...

. He was related to the influential Burgh and Foster families and, through his FitzGerald grandmother, to the

Earl of Kildare Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used. The titl ...

. He had an elder brother Dive, who took

holy orders In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordination, ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders inclu ...

; Dive died in 1798. Their father died when William was only three, reportedly from accidentally running himself through with his own

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

Career

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 ...

, was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1776 and was elected a member of 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 Donegal Borough in 1790. He was appointed a judge of the Court of King's Bench in 1792; after the murder of Lord Kilwarden in 1803, Downes succeeded him as Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dublin 1806–1816.

Lord Chief Justice

Downes was regarded as "the acknowledged father of the law". The very low opinion held of him by his predecessor as Lord Chief Justice,

John Scott, 1st Earl of Clonmell John Scott, 1st Earl of Clonmell PC (Ire) KC SL (8 June 1739 – 23 May 1798), known as The Lord Earlsfort between 1784 and 1789 and as The Viscount Clonmell between 1789 and 1793, was an Irish barrister and judge. Sometimes known as "Copper ...

, who called him "cunning and vain", can be safely disregarded, as Clonmell disliked and despised most of his judicial colleagues and was never fair to them. Downes was not much liked, but he was respected for his integrity, although his manner was stern and intimidating, and it was said that he never laughed. He did enjoy a warm friendship with his colleague Tankerville Chamberlain, whose early death affected him greatly, but he disliked women, and was always uneasy in female company. According to Elrington Ball, after the death of Kilwarden it was generally agreed that only Downes was fit to succeed him.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'' London John Murray 1926 He was one of the few judges whom

Daniel O'Connell Daniel(I) O’Connell (; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilisation of Catholic Irelan ...

could not intimidate. At the trial of John Magee for

seditious libel Seditious libel is a criminal offence under common law of printing written material with seditious purposethat is, the purpose of bringing contempt upon a political authority. It remains an offence in Canada but has been abolished in England and ...

in 1813, O'Connell's conduct of the defence was so intemperate that another barrister said that he should have been prevented from speaking; Downes said drily that he personally regretted not having prevented O'Connell from practising law in the first place. On the other hand, Downes ''did'' let O'Connell speak in defence of his client at great length, and was severely criticised by the

Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British Dublin Castle administration, administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretar ...

, Sir

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835, 1841–1846), and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–183 ...

, for so doing. He took a severe view of any form of judicial misconduct. In 1803 the author of a series of scurrilous letters attacking the Government, published under the pen name " Juverna" was exposed as

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his r ...

, a 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 ...

. Downes drove hard for his prosecution and conviction on the charge of

, and for Johnson's enforced retirement from the Bench. When Johnson tried to evade prosecution Downes had him

arrested An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be Interroga ...

, telling him sternly that his attempt to evade justice was as great a crime as the libel itself. He retired in 1822; despite his considerable age, and the fact that he had neither wife nor children (his dislike of women was proverbial), he accepted a

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes Life peer, non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted Imperial, royal and noble ranks, noble ranks. Peerages include: A ...

, and was created Baron Downes, of Aghanville in the King's County, with a special remainder to his cousin Ulysses Burgh. Ulysses was the grandson of William's aunt Anne Downes, who had married Thomas Burgh. He succeeded William as second and last Baron Downes. William lived at

Booterstown Booterstown () is a coastal suburb of the city of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is also a townland and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in the modern county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It is situated about south of Dublin ...

, County Dublin.

Death and burial

When he died he was buried in St Anne's Church,

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 ...

next to his judicial colleague William Tankerville Chamberlain (died 1802), who had been his inseparable friend for many years:"their friendship and union was complete...and now by the desire of the survivor they lie together in the same tomb" according to the epitaph.Catalogue Note by the portrait of William Downes
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downes, William 1751 births 1826 deaths Irish MPs 1790–1797 Barons in the Peerage of Ireland Peers of Ireland created by George IV Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Lords chief justice of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Donegal constituencies People from Donnybrook, Dublin