Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift".
Drapier's Letters is the collective name for a series of seven pamphlets written between 1724 and 1725 by the Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Jonathan Swift, to arouse public opinion in Ireland against the imposition of a privately minted copper coinage that Swift believed to be of inferior quality. William Wood was granted letters patent to mint the coin, and Swift saw the licensing of the patent as corrupt. In response, Swift represented Ireland as constitutionally and financially independent of Britain in the Drapier's Letters. Since the subject was politically sensitive, Swift wrote under the pseudonym M. B., Drapier, to hide from retaliation.
Philip Tisdall SL was an Irish lawyer and politician, who held the office of Attorney-General for Ireland. He was for many years a leading figure in the Irish Government.
Thomas Marlay (c.1680–1756) was an Irish politician and judge, who ended his career as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He is remembered chiefly for beginning the rebuilding of Celbridge Abbey, and as the grandfather of the statesman Henry Grattan.
Henry Singleton (1682–1759) was an Irish politician and judge, who is remembered now mainly for his friendship with Jonathan Swift, and for his notable acts of charity during the Great Irish Famine of 1740-1, in which between 300,000 and 500,000 people died. Singleton House, his impressive townhouse in Drogheda, no longer exists.
Sir William Yorke, 1st Baronet PC was an English-born politician and judge in eighteenth-century Ireland, who held office as Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas and as Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland. His last years were plagued by ill health: he suffered agonies from a kidney stone, and his death was caused by an accidental drug overdose, which he took in an effort to relieve the chronic pain.
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 senior courts of common law in Ireland, and was a mirror of the Court of Common Pleas in England. The Court of Common Pleas was one of the "four courts" which sat in the building in Dublin which is still known as the Four Courts, apart from a period in the fourteenth century when it relocated to Carlow, which was thought to be both more central and more secure for the rulers of Norman Ireland.
William Whitshed (1679–1727) was an Irish politician and judge who held office as Solicitor-General and Lord Chief Justice of Ireland; just before his death he became Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas. He became the Member of Parliament for Wicklow County in 1703, and was appointed as Solicitor-General in 1709; he was Lord Chief Justice 1714–1727.
John Bysse (c.1602–1680) was a member of the Parliament of Ireland during the 1630s and 1640s. He was excluded from office during the Interregnum, but became one of the most senior Irish judges after the Restoration of Charles II.
John Keating, or Keatinge was an Irish judge of the late seventeenth century, who held office as Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas. He had an impressive reputation for integrity, impartiality and benevolence. Due to his loyalty to King James II of England, he was dismissed from his office as Chief Justice after the Revolution of 1688. Later, faced with the threat of impeachment, he committed suicide.
Patrick Barnewall was a leading figure in the Irish Government of the 1530s and 1540s. He owed his position largely to his close links with Thomas Cromwell. He sat in the Irish House of Commons as MP for Dublin County, and held the offices of Solicitor General for Ireland and Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Today he is mainly remembered for his role in founding the King's Inns. He belonged to a junior branch of the family of Lord Trimlestown: his own descendants held the title Viscount Barnewall of Kingsland.
Robert Marshall (c.1695–1774) was an Irish judge. He is remembered chiefly as co-executor and legatee of Esther Vanhomrigh, the beloved "Vanessa" of Jonathan Swift, although he was not a close friend of hers; indeed it is possible that they never met.
Godfrey Boate was an Irish judge: he is mainly remembered now for incurring the enmity of Jonathan Swift, who celebrated Boate's death with the mocking Quibbling Elegy on Judge Boat.
Thomas Tennison was an Irish politician and judge. He served as Prime Serjeant and as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He sat in the Irish House of Commons as member for Dunleer for many years.
Robert Torrens was an Irish judge. He enjoyed, on the whole, a high reputation for impartiality and decency. While his critics called him "the notorious hanging Judge Torrens", the legal profession as a whole praised his legal ability and integrity. Despite increasing complaints about his physical infirmity, he remained on the Bench into extreme old age. Through his daughter Henrietta he was the ancestor of the Barons O'Neill.
Colonel Joshua Edward Cooper was an Irish landowner and politician from County Sligo.
John Bathe (1536-1586) was an Irish lawyer and statesman of the sixteenth century. He held several important offices, including that of Attorney General for Ireland and Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland. He was a member of a prominent landowning family from County Dublin, and himself added to the family estates. His children included the Jesuit William Bathe, who was a noted musicologist.
Garret Moore, 1st Viscount Moore PC (I) was an Anglo-Irish politician and peer.
Thomas Christmas was an Irish politician.
Sir Robert Forth (c.1600-c.1663) was an Irish statesman of the seventeenth century, and an influential figure in the political crisis of 1640–41. He sat in the Irish House of Commons and was a member of the Privy Council of Ireland.