Thomas Dalton (died 23 June 1730) was an English-born judge in Ireland, who became

Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was the Baron (judge) who presided over the Irish Court of Exchequer. This was a mirror of the equivalent court in England, and was one of the four courts which sat in the building in Dublin which is still ...

. Dalton was born in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, the eldest son of the Reverend Peter Dalton. His mother belonged to the prominent Dominick family of

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 gave their name to Dominick Street in Dublin city centre. Sir Christopher Dominick (died 1743), who began laying out the street in the 1720s, was his uncle. He graduated from

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

in 1702 and became a fellow of

All Souls' College All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members autom ...

in 1706. 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 1711. In 1725 he was appointed Lord Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer and held that office until his death in 1730, aged about fifty-five. He was buried in St Andrew's Church, Dublin. He was married to Jane Dyott, whose father Richard Dyott was the owner of the infamous

rookery (slum) A rookery, in the colloquial English of the 18th and 19th centuries, was a city slum occupied by poor people and frequently also by criminals and prostitutes. Such areas were overcrowded, with low-quality housing and little or no sanitation. Loca ...

in the parish of

St Giles, London St Giles is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Camden. It is in Central London and part of the West End of London, West End. The area gets its name from the parish church of St Giles in the Fields. The combined p ...

, generally considered one of the worst slums not only in London but in the whole of Britain. According to a lawsuit over an

annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals based on a contract with a lump sum of money. Insurance companies are common annuity providers and are used by clients for things like retirement or death benefits. Examples ...

(bequeathed to him in

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust (law), a legal relationship in which one person holds property for another's benefit * Trust (bu ...

by a certain Lady Wych), which was resolved some four years after his death, Dalton had one son, also named Thomas, who was still a minor at the time of his father's death. Archbishop Boulter after his death wrote compassionately of "his family, who suffered (i.e. financially) from his coming here".Letter from Archbishop Boulter to

Sir Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (; 26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the ''de facto'' first Prime Minister of Great Britain, ser ...

24 June 1730 According to Elrington Ball, during his years at Oxford he had a reputation for pride and arrogance; enemies called him a ''proud empty Whig'', who offended his

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

opponents by throwing a celebration dinner on each anniversary of the

execution of Charles I Charles_I_of_England, Charles I, King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, was executed on Tuesday, 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall, London. The execution was ...

. However, he earned a good reputation as Chief Baron and after his premature death tributes were paid in verse to him as a "learned and unbiased judge." Dalton's high reputation in Ireland is confirmed by a letter written by

Hugh Boulter Hugh Boulter (4 January 1672 – 27 September 1742) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, from 1724 until his death. He also served as the chaplain to George I from 1719. Background and education Boulter wa ...

, the influential

Archbishop of Armagh The Archbishop of Armagh is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from the Episcopal see, see city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic success ...

, who was consulted on all senior judicial appointments. Richard West, the

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, commonly known as the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was the highest ranking judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 until the end of 1800, it was also the hi ...

, had died suddenly at the end of 1726: Boulter wrote to the

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ov ...

Lord Granville Earl Granville is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is now held by members of the Leveson-Gower family. First creation The first creation came in the P ...

, recommending Thomas Wyndham, who was successful in obtaining the office. Should Wyndham prove unsuitable for any reason, the Archbishop recommended Dalton, as "having a very good character here, and being well skilled in the affairs of Ireland." After Dalton's death Boulter wrote that the Crown had never had a more zealous, able and diligent servant. Dalton died on 23 June 1730, after a short illness.''Historical Register'' October 1730 According to his friends the crushing workload in 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 ...

hastened his end.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalton, Thomas Lawyers from Hampshire 1730 deaths Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford 18th-century English judges Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Year of birth unknown Chief Barons of the Irish Exchequer