Robert Napier (judge)
Sir Robert Napier (c.1542-1615),[1] was an English-born judge who served in Ireland. He was later to become a long-serving member of Parliament.
Biography
Napier was born at
Judge
In 1593, he was
As a judge, Napier was universally agreed to be a failure, although the Crown initially commended him for his "good services". While some (though by no means all) other English judges found the damp Irish climate a burden which seriously affected their health, most of them made the effort to perform their duties conscientiously enough. Napier on the other hand sent back to England a stream of complaints about his poor health and inadequate salary.[1]
He took a keen interest in espionage. He lobbied for a Chief Justiceship in England, and for further grants of land, and crossed regularly to England, on one occasion being nearly shipwrecked off Holyhead. In 1600, he went back to England for good and refused to return to Dublin; he was suspended from office in 1601 and replaced the following year by the elderly but respected barrister Edmund Pelham.[3]
Member of Parliament
Napier was
Landowner
Napier, though he grumbled that an Irish judge could never be rich if he stayed on "an honest and upright course", [1] nonetheless founded the fortunes of the Napier family in Dorset. Assisted by a number of grants from the Crown, he acquired extensive estates in the county, including Middlemarsh Grange, Minterne Magna, which became the family seat.[7] The Napiers also acquired an estate at Loughcrew, near Oldcastle, County Meath, which remained in the family for several generations, and Crichel House, Moor Crichel, East Dorset, which later became the main family home. The senior male line died out in 1765, and the estates passed to the Sturt family, who were descendants of the female line.
He is buried at Minterne Magna Church. In his will he left money for the accommodation of ten poor men in Dorchester: his son Nathaniel used it to build the Napier Almshouses in that town.[1]
Family
Napier married firstly Catherine, daughter of John Warham of Compton Valence and Catherine Soper, by whom he had a daughter, Anne (died before 1617), who married Sir John Ryves of Damory Court, Dorset (eldest brother of Sir William Ryves, later acting Lord Chancellor of Ireland and George Ryves, Warden of New College, Oxford). He married secondly Magdalen (died 1635), daughter of Sir Anthony Denton of Tonbridge, Kent. Magdalen was the mother of Napier's only son and heir Nathaniel.[8]
By this marriage, the Napiers became a close connection of the noted
Napier's son, Sir Nathaniel, was also a member of parliament, as was his grandson, Sir Gerrard, who was created a baronet in 1641.[8] His great-grandson, Sir Robert Napier, 1st Baronet, of Punknoll, was also a baronet of a separate creation.[8]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Barry 2008.
- ^ a b c d Ball 1926, p. 225.
- ^ Ball 1926, pp. 225, 228.
- ^ Willis 1750, p. 110 (Elizabeth's sixth parliament).
- ^ Willis 1750, p. 148 (Elizabeth's tenth parliament).
- ^ Willis 1750, p. 159 (James's first parliament).
- ^ Brunton & Pennington 1954, p. 162.
- ^ a b c Burke, John and Burke John Bernard Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland John Russell Smith London 1841 p. 379
References
- Ball, F. Elrington (1926). The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921. London: John Murray. p. 225.
- Barry, Judith Hudson (January 2008) [2004]. "Napier, Sir Robert (d. 1615)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. .
- Brunton, D; Pennington, D H (1954). Members of the Long Parliament. London: George Allen & Unwin. p. 162.
- Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 110, 148, 159.