Richard Sydgrave
Richard Sydgrave or Segrave[1] (died 1425) was an Irish judge who held office as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer and served as deputy to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. His family became among the foremost landowners in County Meath.[2]
An earlier member of the Seagrave family, Stephen, had been Archbishop of Armagh 1323–1333;[3] The exact relationship between the two men is unclear. Richard was custodian of the See of Armagh in 1404.[2]
His first recorded office was Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper in the late 1390s. He became a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) in 1402 and Chief Baron in 1423;[4] he also acted as Deputy Lord Chancellor. There is a record of his sitting with John Fitzadam, Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, in 1412 to hear a case of novel disseisin between Thomas Clone and William Dervoys. [5]He was ex officio a member of the Privy Council of Ireland, and seems to have been a fairly regular attendee at its meetings. Like so many senior judges in that era, he faced the claims of a rival for the office, in this case James Cornwalsh, who was finally confirmed in office in 1425,[6] only to be murdered in 1441 during a feud with the Fitzwilliam family. His killers were pardoned, as coincidentally were the murderers of Sydgrave's eldest son some years later. Sydgrave appears to have died in 1425.[2]
In his last years, through the marriage of his eldest son Patrick (died 1455) to the heiress Mary Wafer, the family acquired the lands of Killegland, now Ashbourne, County Meath, where they remained until the 1640s;[7] he also held lands at Newry and in County Galway,[8] although it seems that he was never able to gain effective control of the Newry lands.[8]
Patrick was murdered by Patrick White and others in 1455. His killers quickly obtained a pardon from the Parliament of Ireland, an act symptomatic of a time when the ease with which malefactors obtained pardons, even for murder, (as the case of James Cornwalsh also testified), was becoming a major social problem. [9]Patrick's son, another Richard, was at the same time restored to his father's estates.[10]
The Segrave connection with the Court of Exchequer continued, with two subsequent members of the family being among its Barons.[2]
References
- ^ Sydegrove is yet another spelling of the family name.
- ^ a b c d Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926 Vol.1 p. 172
- ^ D'Alton, John King James' Irish Army List Dublin 1855 p. 729
- ^ D'Alton p.730
- ^ A Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters c.1244-1509
- ^ Beresfo]]]rd, David "Cornwalsh, James" Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography
- ^ Burke, Sir Bernard "Landed Gentry of Ireland" Harrison's London 1912
- ^ a b Patent Roll 6 Henry IV
- ^ 33 Henry VI c.38... Pardon to Patrick White etc....
- ^ 33 Henry VI c.17
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