Warden Flood (1694 – 16 April 1764) was an Irish judge who held office as

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) 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 Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...

, but is mainly remembered now as the natural father of the statesman

Henry Flood Henry Flood (1732 – 2 December 1791), Irish statesman, son of Warden Flood, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he became proficient ...

. He was born at Burnchurch in County Kilkenny, son of Francis Flood and Anne Warden. He was educated at

Kilkenny College Kilkenny College is an independent Church of Ireland co-educational day and boarding secondary school located in Kilkenny, in the South-East of Ireland. It is the largest co-educational boarding school in Ireland. The school's students are mainly ...

and

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 ...

, taking his degree of

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in 1714. He 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 1716 and 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 1720. He was appointed

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 1741,

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 1751, and in 1760 was appointed Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland. He acted as a judge of assize and was briefly Speaker of the

Irish House of Lords The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until 1800. It was also the final court of appeal of the Kingdom of Ireland. It was modelled on the House of Lords of England, with membe ...

.Ball p. 221 He became the

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 ...

(MP) for

Callan Callan is a given name and surname of Irish and Scottish origin. It can derive from Ó Cathaláin, meaning ''descendant of Cathalán''. Callan can also be an Anglicized form of the Gaelic Mac Allin or Mac Callin. Notable people with the name includ ...

in 1727. He had a townhouse at Cuffe Street in Dublin and a country house at Farmley in Kilkenny. His nephew, also Warden Flood, was MP for Longford Borough,

Baltinglass Baltinglass, historically known as Baltinglas (), is a town in south-west County Wicklow, Ireland. It is located on the River Slaney near the border with County Carlow and County Kildare, on the N81 road. Etymology The town's Irish name, ''Be ...

, Carysfort, and

Taghmon Taghmon (; ) is a village in County Wexford, Ireland. It lies on the R738 regional road, 14 km west of Wexford town and 25 km east-southeast of New Ross. History It can be established, from historical records, that the area now com ...

. He had several children by Isabella Whiteside, but whether the couple were legally married is doubtful. His most famous child, the statesman Henry Flood, who is thought to have been Isabella's son, was generally believed to have been born out of wedlock.Ball p. 109 Portrait of Henry Flood

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Flood, Warden 1694 births 1764 deaths Irish MPs 1727–1760 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kilkenny constituencies Solicitors-General for Ireland Attorneys-General for Ireland Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Lawyers from County Kilkenny People educated at Kilkenny College Members of the Middle Temple Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Lords chief justice of Ireland 18th-century Irish judges