Robert Lindsay (1679-1743) was an Irish barrister, politician 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 eighteenth-century Ireland. He is best remembered for his close friendship with

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. In 1713, he became the Dean (Christianity), dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swi ...

, whom he advised on the legal aspects of the '' Drapier Letters''.Bergin He was born at Loughry,

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

, elder son of Robert Lindsay and Anne Morris, daughter of John Morris of Bellville.Ball pp.203-4 His father died in 1691 and he inherited the family estate. He went to school in

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

and graduated from

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

in 1700. He entered the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1703 and was called to the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland () 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 Bar of Ireland, commonly c ...

in 1709. A warm friendship existed between Lindsay and Dean Swift, despite Swift's generally low opinion of lawyers and judges. Lindsay advised Swift on some legal points concerning the ''Drapier Letters'', and Swift was probably responsible for Lindsay's appointment as Proctor's counsel and later

Seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

(legal adviser) of

St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Saint Patrick's Cathedral () in Dublin, Ireland is the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Christ Church Cathedral, also a Church of Ireland cathedral in Dublin, is designated as the local cathedral of ...

. While Swift in old age quarrelled with many of his friends, his friendship with Lindsay endured till the latter's death, and Swift had intended him to be one of his

executors An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, is sometimes used. Executor of will An executor is a legal term referring to a person named by the maker o ...

. He also acted as legal adviser to Esther Van Homrigh, Swift's much-loved ''"Vanessa".'' He entered 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 member for

in 1729. In 1733 he was appointed a 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 ...

. He died in

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 ...

early in 1743 and was buried there in St Catherine's Church. In 1707 he married Elizabeth Singleton, daughter of Edward Singleton of Drogheda and Catherine Newton; her numerous siblings included Henry Singleton,

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 ...

, who was also a close friend of Swift. They had one surviving daughter Anne, who never married, and a son who died young. Loughry passed to Robert's brother John.

Sources

*Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926 *Bergin, John "Lindsay, Robert" ''Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography''

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindsay, Robert Politicians from County Tyrone Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Members of the Inner Temple Justices of the Irish Common Pleas Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Tyrone constituencies 1679 births 1743 deaths