Stephen Woulfe

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Stephen Woulfe (1787 – 2 July 1840) was an Irish

Roman Catholic to be appointed Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer.[1]
He died young, due to a combination of chronic ill-health and overwork.

Life

Woulfe was born at Tiermaclane House, Ennis, County Clare in 1787, second son of Stephen Woulfe and Honora Woulfe (née McNamara), daughter of Michael Macnamara and Bridget Waters. His father was a third cousin to the great general James Wolfe; his mother was a sister of Admiral James Macnamara.[1] Stephen was a younger son, and the family estates passed to his elder brother Peter.

He was educated at the lay college at

St Patrick's College, Maynooth,[2] before becoming one of the first Catholics to attend Trinity College Dublin, where he studied law, before being called to the Bar in 1814.[1]

He was elected

bishops.[1] O'Connell subjected Woulfe to public ridicule, asking "are the sheep to be left to the mercy of this wolf (Woulfe)"? Woulfe's views endeared him to the Government and this, together with his undoubted legal ability, ensured his rapid promotion to Law Officer, and then the Bench.[1]

The phrase "racy of the soil", though strongly associated with the

municipal corporations
in Ireland.

Family

He was married to Frances Hamill, daughter of Roger Hamill of Dowth,

Irish Nationalist MP. Lady Sheil was the author of Glimpses of Manners and Life in Persia (1856). Her daughter Laura married the Spanish diplomat Pedro de Zulueta and was the mother of Francis de Zulueta, Regius Professor of Law at the University of Oxford
. Another daughter Maria Emily married her cousin, the leading journalist John Woulfe Flanagan.

His sister Mary, who married Terence Flanagan of Knockahill, County Roscommon, named her son Stephen Woulfe Flanagan. The nephew followed his uncle to the Bar and Bench, ending his career as justice of the Court of Chancery (Ireland).

Chief Baron

According to Elrington Ball,[4] the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) at this time had the heaviest workload of any of the Irish superior Courts, and its Chief Baron needed a strong physical constitution to cope with the burden of office. Despite his undoubted legal ability, Woulfe's chronic ill-health made him a very poor choice for the office, and indeed he did not seek it: Maziere Brady and Edward Pennefather were his own suggested candidates for Chief Baron. He finally yielded, though, to his party's pleas to take office and, in Ball's phrase, "the job killed him in two years".[4] He went to Baden-Baden in hope of a cure, but his health did not improve, and he died there on 2 July 1840 following an unsuccessful operation.[1]

Character and appearance

Woulfe was described as a man "careless of attire, awkward and angular in his movements, but very effective in his utterances; no profound lawyer, but a man of quick and shrewd observation."[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Woulfe, Stephen" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  2. ^ O'Brien, Eoin (1983). Conscience and Conflict: Biography of Sir Dominic Corrigan, 1802-80. Dublin: Glendale.
  3. ^ "Stephen Woulfe" (PDF). Limerick County Council.
  4. ^ a b Ball, F. Elrington (1926). The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921. London: John Murray.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Cashel
1835–1838 		Succeeded by
Legal offices
Preceded by Solicitor-General for Ireland
1836–1837 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Attorney-General for Ireland
1837–1838 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer
1838–1840 		Succeeded by
Maziere Brady
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stephen_Woulfe&oldid=1156803729"