John Cusacke (died 1626) was a wealthy

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

, landowner and local politician in seventeenth-century

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, who served as both Mayor and Sheriff of Dublin city. He was born in

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

, eldest of the ten children of Patrick Cusacke of Ballymolghan and his wife Maud Plunkett, daughter of Thomas Plunkett of Loch Gabhair (Lagore), Ratoath. The Cusacks were recorded at Ballymolghan from 1508. He was admitted as a

freeman Freeman, free men, Freeman's or Freemans may refer to: Places United States * Freeman, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Freeman, South Dako ...

of the city of Dublin in 1592, having served his

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

. He married Margaret Allen, daughter of Giles Allen, a former Mayor of Dublin, and widow of John Gough, an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

. They had five children, including Robert, who inherited his father's estate and sat in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

as MP for Kells in 1640–1642, and Anne, who married Richard Barry. John served as Sheriff of Dublin City in 1599–1600 and was an

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660–1661, even more si ...

from 1604 until his death. He was active on several committees of the corporation, notably one to lobby for the corporation's interests in the forthcoming

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of 1613–1615, and served as the Corporation's Treasurer in 1610–1611. He was Mayor of Dublin in 1608–1609: Robert Kennedy, who had hoped to be mayor, was passed over, apparently because he was a

recusant Recusancy (from ) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...

. John himself, though he conformed outwardly to the

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faith, was deeply sympathetic to

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, and was an active member of Saint Anne's Guild, the leading Catholic guild in Dublin, helping to defend its

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when it was under threat. He served four terms as one of the masters of the Dublin Merchants'

Guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

, and on its behalf, he petitioned the

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in 1609 for repayment of loans owing to the Irish Exchequer: he claimed that £1300 was owed to him personally, an indication of his wealth. He became a substantial landowner in Dublin and Meath. The principal Cusacke family home was

Rathgar Rathgar () is a suburb of Dublin, 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 (off ...

Castle (which had been built by the Segrave family in the sixteenth century). It stood in Rathgar, which is now a suburb of Dublin: he bought the castle in 1609. All trace of it has vanished today, but it probably stood on present-day Highfield Road. He was the grandfather of two distinguished judges: Robert, his eldest son, was the father of Adam Cusack, justice 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 ...

, and his daughter Anne was the mother of James Barry, 1st Baron Barry of Santry,

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Sources

*Armstrong, Robert "John Cusack" ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' Cambridge University Press *Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926 *''Close Roll 23 Henry VII 4 May 1508'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Cusacke, John Lord mayors of Dublin Businesspeople from Dublin (city) 1626 deaths Year of birth unknown High sheriffs of Dublin City Irish merchants