Richard Best PC(Ire) KC (11 December 1869 – 23 February 1939) was an Irish

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, politician and

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Justice ...

. Best was born in Richhill, County Armagh, son of farmers Robert and Anne Best. He was educated at the Educational Institution, Dundalk (now

Dundalk Grammar School Dundalk Grammar School, is an independent school in Dundalk, County Louth. The school is co-educational with both primary and secondary departments. It is one of a small number of schools in Ireland offering students an education from school ...

) 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 ...

where he was Senior Moderator (BA) in mathematics in 1892, and 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 ...

by the

King's Inns The Honorable Society of King's Inns ( ir, Cumann Onórach Óstaí an Rí) is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environment ...

, Dublin in 1895. He took silk in 1912 and was elected a bencher in 1918. In 1921 he was elected to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland as Unionist member for

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...

and later the same year he was appointed Attorney General for Northern Ireland. He was appointed to 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 ...

in the

1922 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1922 were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. They were published on 30 December 1921. The recipients of honours are displayed here ...

, entitling him to the style "The Right Honourable". In 1925 he was appointed a

of the

Supreme Court of Northern Ireland The courts of Northern Ireland are the Civil law (common law), civil and Criminal law, criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in Northern Ireland: they are constituted and governed by the law of Northern Ireland. Prior to ...

, a position he held until his death. In 1904, he married Sarah Constance Bevington in St John's Church, Sevenoaks, Kent. They had a son, also called Richard.

Arms

Footnotes

References

*Obituary, '' The Times'', 24 February 1939 {{DEFAULTSORT:Best, Richard 1869 births 1939 deaths People from County Armagh Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish barristers Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1921–1925 Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland Attorneys General for Northern Ireland Northern Ireland junior government ministers (Parliament of Northern Ireland) Lords Justice of Appeal of Northern Ireland People educated at Dundalk Grammar School Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for County Armagh constituencies Alumni of King's Inns