William Henn ( – 1796) was an Irish judge, who is remembered now mainly for the somewhat malicious description of him in Sir Jonah Barrington's ''Personal Sketches''.

Life

He was born at Ballynacally, County Clare, second son of Thomas Henn of Paradise Hill.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926 Vol.2 p.216 The Henn family, who were originally from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, had acquired large estates in Clare in the 17th century. They had a long association with the law: Henry Hene, or Henn, who is generally thought to have been William's direct ancestor, was

Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was the Baron ( judge) who presided over the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). The Irish Court of Exchequer was a mirror of the equivalent court in England and was one of the four courts which sat in the build ...

1680–1687. John Bennett, William's colleague on the Court of King's Bench, was a cousin. William entered

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1738, took his degree as Bachelor of Arts from the University of Dublin in 1740, was called to the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...

in 1744 and became King's Counsel in 1762. He was made a justice of the

Court of King's Bench (Ireland) The Court of King's Bench (of Queen's Bench when the sovereign was female, and formerly of Chief Place or Chief Pleas) 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 King's Be ...

in 1768 and remained on the Bench until 1791. He died in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

in 1796.

Reputation

Jonah Barrington called him a "very excellent private character" but did not rate his judicial qualities at all highly. According to Barrington, Henn was "dreadfully puzzled" when he was hearing a case while on

assize The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 ...

in about 1789 by the arguments of two young barristers, each of whom pleaded with great eloquence that the law was in his client's favour. Having argued their contradictory positions at length, they requested the judge to give his ruling. Henn, at a loss to know which side was in the right, whispered to his

registrar A registrar is an official keeper of records made in a register. The term may refer to: Education * Registrar (education), an official in an academic institution who handles student records * Registrar of the University of Oxford, one of the se ...

: "I wish to God I knew what the law really was!", to which the registrar replied that if he knew what the law was, he would happily share his knowledge with the judge.

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 "Copperfa ...

, who presided in the King's Bench where Henn was a junior judge, had a very low opinion of him, calling him "at best a fool". Admittedly Scott in his

diary A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...

privately expressed his contempt for nearly all the Irish judges of his time, including some with whom he was outwardly friendly: Henn's cousin John Bennett was one whom Scott saw as his particular enemy.

Family

William Henn married Elizabeth Parry, of whose parents and family background little seems to be known; he was the father of three daughters and one son, William Henn junior, a

Master in Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equ ...

. The younger William married Susaana Lovett, sister of Sir Jonathan Lovett, 1st Baronet, of Liscombe House, Buckinghamshire, and had six children, including Jonathan Henn, a barrister, who is best remembered for prosecuting

John Mitchel John Mitchel ( ga, Seán Mistéal; 3 November 1815 – 20 March 1875) was an Irish nationalist activist, author, and political journalist. In the Famine years of the 1840s he was a leading writer for ''The Nation'' newspaper produced by the ...

. Sir

Charles Villiers Stanford Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was educated at the ...

, the famous conductor and composer, was his descendant in the next generation, the son of Jonathan's sister Mary "a lady of great charm and good manners", who married John James Stanford.Firman, Rosemary "Villiers, Sir Charles Stanford (1852-1924)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' Oxford University Press 2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henn, William People from County Clare Year of birth uncertain 1796 deaths 18th-century Irish people Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Justices of the Irish King's Bench 1720 births