Henry de Motlowe (died 1361) was an English-born judge who briefly held office as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. [1]
He was born in Cheshire, to a family from Nether Alderley. His surname suggests that there was also a family link with the village of Mobberley, five miles from Alderley, which was called Motburlege in the Domesday Book. He owned lands at Church Lawton, (then known as Bog-Lawton): in 1338 one Ralph de Lawton gave a quitclaim (i.e. a formal renunciation of his own claim) for all lands which were held in Church Lawton by Henry and his heirs.
He was already a senior official of the English Crown by 1346, when he appears on a commission in London to investigate the forgery of the Royal seal. [1] In the same year he was appointed Lord Chief Justice of Ireland but seems to have spent no more than a few months in that office, since he was replaced in the same year by John de Rednesse, and he is shortly afterwards heard of as a member of a Commission of Oyer and Terminer in Derbyshire. [1]
In 1357 he was made a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and in the same year, he sat on another royal commission, to investigate an alleged affray between Simon Warde, a servant of John Gynwell, Bishop of Lincoln and certain members of the Order of Hospitallers, on whom Warde had been attempting to serve a summons to appear in a lawsuit. Ironically the future Prior of the Hospitallers, Richard de Wirkeley, who together with the then Prior, John Paveley, allegedly instigated the affray, had also been Lord Chief Justice of Ireland: the commission included yet another Irish Chief Justice, William de Notton. [2]
Motlowe died in 1361. [1]
Sir William de Shareshull KB (1289/1290–1370) was an English lawyer and Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 26 October 1350 to 5 July 1361. He achieved prominence under the administration of Edward III of England.
Sir John Knyvet was an English lawyer and administrator. He was Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1365 to 1372, and Lord Chancellor of England from 1372 to 1377.
Church Lawton is a village and located in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. Its location is such that its eastern boundary forms part of the county boundary between Cheshire and Staffordshire and, because of its close proximity to Stoke-on-Trent, the parish has a Stoke postcode. In addition to ribbon development connecting Kidsgrove with Scholar Green, the parish also contains the hamlets of Lawton Gate, Lawton Heath and Lawton Heath End, and the Lawton Hall estate. According to the 2001 census, the population of the entire parish was 2,201.
Events from the year 1361 in Ireland.
John Frowyk was an English-born cleric and judge in fourteenth-century Ireland.
Sir Elias de Asshebournham, or Ellis de Ashbourne (c.1290-1357/8) was an Irish judge who held the office of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, and fought a long battle with a rival candidate, Thomas Louth, to retain it. Despite frequent allegations of corruption, and a reputation for violence, for many years he retained the confidence of the English Crown, although he also suffered periods of imprisonment.
Nicholas Fastolf was an English-born judge who was a leading member of the early Irish judiciary; according to the most reliable source, he was the first judge to hold the office of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He was probably the direct ancestor of Sir John Fastolf, who is generally thought to have inspired Shakespeare's character Falstaff.
William Tynbegh, or de Thinbegh (c.1370-1424) was an Irish lawyer who had a long and distinguished career as a judge, holding office as Chief Justice of all three of the courts of common law and as Lord High Treasurer of Ireland. His career is unusual both for the exceptionally young age at which he became a judge, and because left the Bench to become Attorney General for Ireland, but later returned to judicial office.
Robert de Holywood was an Irish judge and landowner who held the office of Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He was the ancestor of the Holywood family of Artane Castle, and of the St. Lawrence family, Earls of Howth. He was a substantial landowner with property in Dublin, Meath and Louth. He became extremely unpopular, and was removed from office after numerous complaints of "oppression and extortion" were made against him. These were apparently inspired ĺargely by his close association in the mid-1370s with Sir William de Windsor, the embattled Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
John Bermyngham or Bermingham was an Irish barrister and judge. He was one of the first Crown Law officers to be referred to as the King's Serjeant. He was later appointed Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, but did not take up the office.
John de Rednesse was an English-born judge who served four times as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.
John Hunt, le Hunt, Hunter or Hunter del Nash was an English-born judge who served briefly as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He was the ancestor of the prominent Longueville family of Wolverton.
Sir William de Notton, or Norton was an English landowner and judge, who had a highly successful career in both England and Ireland, culminating in his appointment as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland in 1361.
Richard de Wirkeley was an English-born cleric who was Prior of the Order of Hospitallers in Ireland and held office very briefly as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.
Sir Walter Devereux of Bodenham was a prominent knight in Herefordshire during the reign of Edward III. He was a member of Parliament, sheriff, and Justice of the Peace for Hereford.
Sir John de Sotheron was an English landowner, lawyer and judge, who served briefly as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.
Roger de Birthorpe (c.1280–c.1345) was an English landowner and lawyer who had a distinguished career in Ireland as a judge, becoming Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer in 1327. His career however was marked by violence and controversy: he fled to Ireland after being imprisoned for trespass after a raid on Sempringham Priory, although he was later pardoned for his part in the raid. He was a friend and neighbour of Sir Geoffrey Luttrell of Irnham, who commissioned the Luttrell Psalter.
Thomas de Dent, Thomas Dyvelyn, Thomas Denton, or Thomas of Dublin was an English-born cleric and judge who held high office in Ireland during the reign of King Edward III, and was praised as a diligent and hard-working Crown official, who damaged his health through overwork.
John Fitzadam was an Irish judge of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century. He is notable for his very long tenure as Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas; he held the office for twenty-three years, in the reigns of three English Kings. Some years after his death, he was accused of judicial misconduct, in that he had unduly favoured one party in a lawsuit, but it is impossible now to determine the truth of the matter.
Reginald de Snyterby was an Irish judge of the fifteenth century, from a family of English origin which produced several Irish judges.