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Thomas Marlay (–1756) was an Irish politician and
judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
, who ended his career as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He is remembered chiefly for beginning the rebuilding of
Celbridge Abbey Celbridge Abbey is located in Celbridge, County Kildare in Ireland. History The house was built by Bartholomew Van Homrigh, who at the time was the Lord Mayor of Dublin, in 1697. It is, however, more famous as the childhood (1688–1707) and la ...
, and as the grandfather of the statesman Henry Grattan.


Background

He was born at Creevagh Beg, near
Ballymahon Ballymahon () on the River Inny is a town in the southern part of County Longford, Ireland. It is located at the junction of the N55 National secondary road and the R392 regional road. History Ballymahon derives its name from the Irish lang ...
,
County Longford County Longford ( gle, Contae an Longfoirt) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 46,6 ...
. His mother Elizabeth Morgan was the daughter of Robert Morgan of Cottlestown,
County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...
, and his wife Bridget Blayney of Castleblayney, County Monaghan. His father Anthony Marlay was a recent arrival in Ireland from
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...
, where Thomas's grandfather Sir John Marlay (1590-1673) had been a leading local politician, who served as both Mayor of Newcastle and its MP; he is chiefly remembered for his spirited defence of the town against the invading Scots army during the
English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
. From their beginnings as small tradesmen, the Marlays had risen to become among the wealthiest
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...
exporters in Newcastle.
George Marlay George Marlay was an Irish Anglican priest in the eighteenth century: he was Bishop of DromoreAtkinson,W.E 'Dromore - An Ulster Diocese', P 35 from 1745 until 1763. He gave his name to Marlay Park, which is now a popular amenity in south Dublin. H ...
,
Bishop of Dromore The Bishop of Dromore is an episcopal title which takes its name after the original monastery of Dromore in County Down, Northern Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church the title still continues as a separate bishopric, but in the Church of Irela ...
1745–1763, was Thomas's younger brother, and gave his name to Marlay House, which was built by his son-in-law, David La Touche. David was an MP, a member of 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 ...
, and first Governor of the
Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Group plc ( ga, Banc na hÉireann) is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the Bank occupies a unique position in Iris ...
. He married George's daughter, Elizabeth, in 1761.


Early career

Thomas was educated at Trinity College Dublin. Unlike many
barristers 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 ...
of his time, he was a considerable scholar and was awarded the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Laws. He was an admirer of
John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
, whom he met once when he was a student. He was admitted to the
Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...
, 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 ...
. He rapidly built up a large practice at the Irish Bar, although Elrington Ball states that he was not very highly regarded as a lawyer. An anonymous
pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...
from 1730, which took a somewhat jaundiced view of the Irish Bar in general, described him as "a
sage Sage or SAGE may refer to: Plants * ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb ** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family ** ''Salvia'', a large ...
refined": whether this tribute to his intellect was ironic or not is unclear. He was elected to the Irish House of Commons as member for
Limavady Limavady (; ) is a market town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with Binevenagh as a backdrop. Lying east of Derry and southwest of Coleraine, Limavady had a population of 12,032 people at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census ...
in 1715, and as member for Lanesborough, 1727–31. He was appointed Solicitor-General for Ireland in 1720 and Attorney-General for Ireland in 1727. He was elevated to the Bench as
Lord Chief Baron The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who p ...
in 1730 and became Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland in 1741.


Judge

His most memorable trial as Lord Chief Justice was the so-called Annesley perjury case, ''Annesley v. Lord Anglesey'', in 1745. This was one of several trials arising from the celebrated legal battle between James Annesley and his uncle
Richard Annesley, 6th Earl of Anglesey Richard Annesley, 6th Earl of Anglesey ( – 14 February 1761), known as The Lord Altham between 1727 and 1737, was an Irish peer and governor of Wexford. He is known for the doubts surrounding his claim to the barony of Altham, for the question ...
as to which of them was the rightful holder of the Anglesey title and estates; the case is said to have inspired the novel ''
Kidnapped Kidnapped may refer to: * subject to the crime of kidnapping Literature * ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson * ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Ca ...
'' by
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
. The trial was notable for lasting twenty-two hours without a single break and Marlay, who would normally have expected to have 2 or 3 colleagues to support him, conducted much of it singlehanded, as his colleague Arthur Blennerhassett collapsed from exhaustion. The verdict went in favour of James, but he died before his uncle, without having regained possession of his estates. A workload as heavy as Marlay's was bound to affect his health, and from 1749 onwards he was too unwell to go on assize. An additional hazard was infectious
fever Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a body temperature, temperature above the human body temperature, normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, set point. There is not a single ...
, which was particularly virulent in the
Famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...
years 1740–1741, when two judges died of it. He retired on health grounds in 1751. He died 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 ...
in 1756, while on a visit to his colleague Henry Singleton. He was a popular figure and his death seems to have been genuinely mourned: a Dublin paper published verses praising his gentleness, perfect manners and scholarship (the last being rather unusual among Irish judges of the time).


Politics- the Lucas affair (1749)

In politics he was a staunch conservative, as demonstrated by his stern and contemptuous attitude to the radical doctor, politician and pamphleteer Dr.
Charles Lucas Sir Charles Lucas, 1613 to 28 August 1648, was a professional soldier from Essex, who served as a Cavalier, Royalist cavalry leader during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Taken prisoner at the end of the First English Civil War in March 1646, ...
(1713-1771). In 1749 Lucas, who was standing for election to the Irish House of Commons in Dublin city, had caused uproar by publishing a series of pamphlets on
parliamentary reform In the United Kingdom, Reform Act is most commonly used for legislation passed in the 19th century and early 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons ...
, which were alleged to be subversive attacks on the
British Crown The Crown is the state (polity), state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, overseas territories, Provinces and territorie ...
and the Dublin Government. A Dublin
grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
was empanelled to consider the charges against Lucas: Marlay in ferocious language (he called Lucas "this infamous and impudent scribbler") urged the jury to present him for seditious libel, which they duly did. Lucas, warned to expect severe treatment, had already fled for his own safety to the
Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...
, and later moved to London. "The scribbler, the impostor, has fled from Justice", Marlay told the grand jury: "His works (but I hope not his influence) remain".


Family

Marlay began the rebuilding of
Celbridge Abbey Celbridge Abbey is located in Celbridge, County Kildare in Ireland. History The house was built by Bartholomew Van Homrigh, who at the time was the Lord Mayor of Dublin, in 1697. It is, however, more famous as the childhood (1688–1707) and la ...
in
County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...
, which is chiefly remembered as the home of Esther Vanhomrigh, the beloved ''Vanessa'' of
Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...
. He purchased it from Esther's executors soon after her death in 1723. His son Richard completed the new house in the 1780s. He married Anne de Laune (died 1769), daughter of Charles de Laune, in 1707, and had ten children, of whom several died young. Their surviving children included Colonel
Thomas Marlay Thomas Marlay (c.1680–1756) was an Irish politician and judge, who ended his career as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He is remembered chiefly for beginning the rebuilding of Celbridge Abbey, and as the grandfather of the statesman Henry Grat ...
;
Richard Marlay Richard Marlay was Dean of Ferns from 1769 to 1787; and Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh from 1787 to 1795 when he was translated to Waterford and Lismore. He died in office on 1 July 1802.Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. ...
, Bishop of Clonfert and later
Bishop of Waterford The Bishop of Waterford was a medieval prelate, governing the Diocese of Waterford from its creation in the 11th century until it was absorbed into the new Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore in the 14th century. After the creation of ...
; Anthony, who inherited Celbridge Abbey; Mary,Not Alice as a few sources state. who married James Grattan MP and was the mother of the statesman Henry Grattan; and Alice, who married Richard Levinge (1724-1783) MP, youngest son of
Sir Richard Levinge, 1st Baronet Sir Richard Levinge, 1st Baronet (2 May 1656 – 13 July 1724) was an Irish politician and judge, who played a leading part in Irish public life for more than 30 years. Background Levinge was born at Leek, Staffordshire, the second son of Rich ...
, of Calverstown, County Kildare.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marlay, Thomas Irish barristers Solicitors-General for Ireland Attorneys-General for Ireland 1756 deaths Members of the Privy Council of Ireland People from Ballymahon Year of birth uncertain Lords chief justice of Ireland Chief Barons of the Irish Exchequer Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Londonderry constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Longford constituencies Lawyers from County Longford 18th-century Irish lawyers Politicians from County Longford