Rickard Deasy PC (1812 – 6 May 1883) was an Irish lawyer and judge. He was born at Phale Court, Enniskean,

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

, the second son of Rickard Deasy, a wealthy

brewer Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer ...

, and his wife Mary Anne Caller. He was educated at the

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, where he graduated with a Doctorate of Law. He 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 ...

, and became

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

. He practised mainly on the Munster Circuit, and quickly became one of its leaders. He married Monica O'Connor, youngest daughter of Hugh O'Connor of Dublin, and had three children, of whom two died young. His only surviving son was Henry Hugh Peter Deasy (1866-1947), the soldier and writer, author of ''In Tibet and Chinese Turkestan'', and founder of the Deasy Motor Car Company. Henry in turn was the father of the agricultural campaigner Rickard Deasy. Deasy was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

on 23 April 1855 in a by-election following Edmond Roche's elevation to the peerage. He was appointed Third Serjeant-at-law in 1858, then

Solicitor-General for Ireland The Solicitor-General for Ireland was the holder of an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office. The holder was a deputy to the Attorney-General for Ireland, and advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. On ra ...

in 1859 and then

Attorney-General for Ireland The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. With the ...

in 1860, being also appointed to the Irish Privy Council (on 21 February). On the death of

Richard Wilson Greene Richard Wilson Greene PC, KC (1791–1861) was an Irish barrister and judge. He was born in Dublin, the son of Sir Jonas Greene, who was Recorder of Dublin from 1822 until his death in 1828, and his wife, the leading actress Marianne Hitch ...

in 1861 Deasy was raised to the bench as a Baron of the Exchequer. He was appointed to the

Irish Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal in Ireland was created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877 as the final appellate court within Ireland, then under British rule. A las ...

in 1878, and served on that court until his death in 1883. He was buried in the family vault in

Deans Grange Cemetery Deans Grange Cemetery (; also spelled ''Deansgrange'') is situated in the suburban area of Deansgrange in the Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown part of the former County Dublin, Ireland. Since it first opened in 1865, over 150,000 people have been burie ...

, beside his wife, who had died a few weeks earlier. He was a fine lawyer, especially in the field of equity: as a barrister, he was noted for identifying himself fully with his clients' interests. He was also an effective Parliamentarian, concise and professional in his dispatch of Government business. His name is permanently associated with the

Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment (Ireland) Act 1860 The Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment Act, Ireland, 1860 (23 & 24 Vict c 154) or the Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment (Ireland) Act 1860, better known as Deasy's Act, was an Act of Parliament preceding the agrarian unrest in Ireland in the 1880s, ...

, universally known as Deasy's Act, which as Attorney General he steered through Parliament.

Arms

References

F. Elrington Ball Francis Elrington Ball, known as F. Elrington Ball (1863–1928), was an Irish author and legal historian, best known for his work ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'' (1926). Life A younger son of John Thomas Ball (1815 to 1898), the Lord Chan ...

, ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'', John Murray, London 1926

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Deasy, Rickard 1812 births 1883 deaths UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 Burials at Deans Grange Cemetery Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Cork constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Privy Council of Ireland People from County Cork Lords Justice of Appeal for Ireland Serjeants-at-law (Ireland) 19th-century Irish judges 19th-century Irish lawyers Alumni of Trinity College Dublin