Sir Charles Calthorpe (c. 1540 – 1616) was an English-born Crown official and
judge
A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...
in Elizabethan and Jacobean
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. Prior to his appointment to the Irish High Court in 1606, he had been
Attorney General for Ireland
The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Kingdom of Ireland, Irish and then, from 1801 under the Acts of Union 1800, United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on ...
for more than 20 years, despite frequent criticisms of his professional incompetence. He was a close political associate of the
Lord Deputy of Ireland
The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...
, Sir
John Perrot
Sir John Perrot (7 November 1528 – 3 November 1592) was a member of the Welsh gentry who served as Lord Deputy of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth I of England during the Tudor conquest of Ireland. It was formerly speculated that he was an ille ...
: Perrot's downfall damaged his career, but he was eventually restored to royal favour.
Early life
He belonged to an old
Norfolk
Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
family; his father was Sir Francis Calthorpe of
Hempstead and his mother was Elizabeth Berney, daughter of Ralph Berney of
Gunton Hall, near
Suffield.
[Ball 1926, p. 318] His grandfather was Sir
William Calthorpe (died 1494),
High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, who was probably the grandson of the earlier Sir William (died 1420) whose
memorial brass
A monumental brass is a type of engraved sepulchral memorial once found through Western Europe, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latte ...
can still be seen in All Saints Church,
Burnham Thorpe. On their father's death in 1544 Hempstead, which had come to Charles's grandfather through his marriage to his second wife Elizabeth Stapleton, passed as to Charles's older brother William, who sold it in 1573.
The birthdate often given for Charles of 1524 is probably at least a decade too early: he was certainly described as an old man in 1611, but the Crown would hardly have retained the services of a judge who was turning 90.
Charles entered
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...
in 1560. He gave readings on the law of
copyhold
Copyhold was a form of customary land ownership common from the Late Middle Ages into modern times in England. The name for this type of land tenure is derived from the act of giving a copy of the relevant title deed that is recorded in the ...
at
Furnivall's Inn, which were published in 1562. He was
called to the bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
in 1569 and became a Bencher of his Inn in 1582. He sat in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
as member for
Eye
An eye is a sensory organ that allows an organism to perceive visual information. It detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons (neurones). It is part of an organism's visual system.
In higher organisms, the ey ...
in the Parliament of 1572. He also served as steward of
Yarmouth and as a
Justice of the Peace for Norfolk.
Attorney General
In 1584 he was appointed Attorney General for Ireland, and soon became a staunch political ally of the Lord Deputy, Sir John Perrot. His rewards for his support of Perrot included a
lease for 21 years of
Kilconnell Abbey,
County Galway
County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...
, and the town of
Mallow, County Cork
Mallow (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland, approximately thirty-five kilometres north of Cork (city), Cork City. Mallow is in a townland and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of the same name, in the Fermoy (barony), barony of Fermoy. ...
, which he later sold.
From the outset of his career in Ireland Calthorpe was subject to intense criticism from his political opponents, who accused him of
partisanship
A partisan is a committed member or supporter of a political party or political movement. In multi-party systems, the term is used for persons who strongly support their party's policies and are reluctant to compromise with political opponents ...
, inefficient management of business, insufficient legal
learning
Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, value (personal and cultural), values, Attitude (psychology), attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, non-human animals, and ...
and undue deference to his Irish colleagues.
[ These attacks mounted after Perrot's recall in 1588, but Calthorpe managed to retain office, possibly due to the perennial difficulty in finding another suitable candidate for the office of Attorney General. Given his long tenure in that office, it may well be that he was a more efficient public servant than his critics claimed. He was also criticised for the number of prosecutions he brought in the Court of Castle Chamber, the Irish ]Star Chamber
The court of Star Chamber () was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late to the mid-17th century (), and was composed of privy counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judicial activities of the ...
, which were alleged to be politically motivated attacks on Perrot's opponents or personal enemies, notably Archbishop Adam Loftus.
Family
Calthorpe married firstly Winifred Toto, daughter of the celebrated Italian-born painter Anthony Toto, who was Serjeant Painter to Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
and Edward VI
Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...
. In 1594 she was already said to be in failing health; she died in 1605. He married secondly Dorothy Deane, daughter of John Deane of London, who had been twice married already; she outlived him by a few months. He had no children by either marriage.
Perrot's downfall
The final downfall of Calthorpe's patron, Lord Deputy Perrot, who was convicted of treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...
in 1592 and died in the Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
while awaiting execution
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in ...
, had major repercussions in Ireland. His close ally Nicholas White, the Master of the Rolls in Ireland, was arrested on the same charge, and like Perrot, he died in the Tower. It was widely believed that Calthorpe would suffer a similar fate. He was accused of corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...
by two dubious characters: Henry Bird, a former royal clerk
A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...
, and an eccentric ex-priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
called Denis O'Roghan. Bird had been convicted by the Court of Castle Chamber of forging
Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compression (physics), compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die (manufacturing), die. Forging is often classif ...
Perrot's signature on O'Roghan's evidence:[Crawford 2006, pp. 261–2] Calthorpe had prosecuted the case with great vigour and there is no reason to doubt that he believed that Bird was guilty. O'Roghan however withdrew his evidence against Bird, and made charges of treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...
against Perrot. Sir William Fitzwilliam, the new Lord Deputy, set up an inquiry, but O'Roghan's charges were so wildly implausible that it seemed doubtful whether the inquiry could proceed. A second commission of inquiry was then set up into the manner in which the charges were made. Calthorpe sat on this commission, which proved to be a serious mistake when O'Roghan accused the commissioners of subjecting him to torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
.
Fitzwilliam was now ordered by the English Crown
This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself king of the Anglo-Sax ...
to resume his own inquiry, and Calthorpe faced two serious charges: of wrongly pressing for Bird's conviction, and of acting corruptly in the examination of O'Roghan. He was suspended from office without pay between 1590 and 1592, and it was widely believed that he would be prosecuted. In February 1591, seeing that Perrot was doomed, he wrote to Burghley, the English elder statesman, pleading for his protection. Given that Burghley was a close associate of Fitzwilliam, he might seem an unlikely patron of Calthorpe, but Calthorpe was also an old friend of Burghley, who was generally inclined to moderation. In the event, it was decided that a severe censure of Calthorpe's conduct, finding that he had been "negligent, but not undutiful" was a sufficient penalty. His efforts to claim his arrears of salary however were firmly rebuffed. Calthorpe also suffered the embarrassment of seeing the conviction of Henry Bird publicly reversed. He was restored to office in the autumn of 1592, but his reputation never fully recovered. He wisely kept a low profile in public affairs thereafter.[
]
Molyneux case
In 1594 the Court of Exchequer (Ireland)
The Court of Exchequer (Ireland), or the Irish Exchequer of Pleas, was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was the mirror image of the equivalent court in England. The Court of Exchequer was one of the four royal courts of jus ...
was asked to rule on whether Sir Thomas Molyneux, the Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland
The Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland and a member of the Dublin Castle administration under the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Kingdom of Ireland. In early times the office was sometimes called ...
, was eligible for public office. Molyneux, though of English parentage, had been born and raised in Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...
and lived for some years in Bruges
Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country.
The area of the whole city amoun ...
, where he married a Belgian wife. His enemies accordingly suggested that he was a foreigner and a Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
. Calthorpe, having questioned Molyneux, informed the Court that he was a Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
Englishman, and as such fully qualified to hold public office.
Later life
Complaints about his inefficiency mounted: in 1597 the Privy Council of Ireland
His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...
lamented that none of the Law Officers, except the Solicitor-General for Ireland
The Solicitor-General for Ireland was the holder of an Kingdom of Ireland, 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 ...
, Roger Wilbraham, did the Crown's business properly. Calthorpe began pressing for promotion to what he no doubt hoped would be the less stressful life of a High Court judge. He was offered the position of Chief Justice of Munster, but refused it: the work of that office was extremely onerous, and clearly, it did not appeal to him, especially as both he and his wife were in poor health. He sought the office of Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas
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 ...
instead.[ On hearing that the salary of that office was about to be reduced he withdrew his application. In his later years, he seems to have seriously neglected his duties at the Attorney General's Office: in 1604 he was living in ]London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, and the following year Sir Arthur Chichester, the new Lord Deputy, complained of Calthorpe's inefficiency, although he was given a knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
the same year.[ Finally the decision to appoint Sir John Davies as Attorney General made it necessary either to find another job for Calthorpe or to forcibly retire him, and in 1606 he, at last, reached the Bench as a puisne judge of the ]Court of Common Pleas (Ireland)
The Court of Common Pleas was one of the principal courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. Common Pleas was one of the four courts of justice which gave the Four Courts in Dublin, which is sti ...
. Despite having sought promotion, he again complained about the inadequate salary.
He was not a success as a judge: in 1611 he was described as old, weak and unable to perform his official duties,[ although he remained on the Bench until his death. He died in January 1616 and was buried in ]Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin
Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (Irish: ''Ardeaglais Theampall Chríost''), is the cathedral of the Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough, United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the e ...
.
Reputation
Calthorpe was judged harshly in his own time, but he has been viewed more favourably by recent historians
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
. As Crawford points out[ the whole judicial process leading to the disgrace of Sir John Perrot was politically partisan, and Calthorpe, as one of Perrot's closest allies, could not have hoped to escape censure even if he was blameless. Despite the abuse heaped on him, it is notable that he retained office as Attorney General for 22 years, and even allowing that a suitable replacement may have been hard to find until the advent of Sir John Davies this suggests that he was a competent enough Law Officer. Casey also praises him for his constructive and business-like management of the Attorney General's office,][Casey 1995, p. 11] although Chichester's criticisms, and the complaints by the Privy Council about his inefficiency in 1597, suggest that he neglected his duties in his later years. This neglect was largely due to age and ill health.
Notes
Sources
*Ball, F. Elrington (1926), ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' Volume 1, London: John Murray
*Casey, James (1995), ''The Irish Law Officers'', Dublin: Round Hall Press
*Crawford Jon G. (2006), ''A Star Chamber Court for Ireland-the Court of Castle Chamber 1571-1641'', Dublin: Four Courts Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calthorpe, Charles
Attorneys-general for Ireland
People from Norfolk
1616 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
Justices of the Irish Common Pleas