John Bennett (Irish politician)

John Bennett (c. 1720 – 1792) was an Irish politician, barrister and judge.

He was born in Cork, the son of George Bennett. William Henn of Paradise Hill, County Clare, his future colleague on the Bench, was his cousin.[1] He was educated at the University of Dublin and at the Middle Temple. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1758. He entered politics but was not at first successful in his political career: although he was elected to the Irish House of Commons for Dungarvan in 1776, he was promptly unseated. In 1783 he stood for Parliament again both Castlemartyr and Charleville and took his seat as member for Castelmartyr.

His first judicial office was Recorder of Cork, although the precise dates between which he held this office are uncertain; most likely he was Recorder from 1783 to 1787. In the latter year he was appointed a justice of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland) and held the latter office till his death in 1792.

John Scott, 1st Earl of Clonmell, Bennett's Chief in the Court of King's Bench, who regarded him as an enemy.

Elrington Ball states that Bennett was a man noted for his independence of mind: as such he was bound to clash with the formidable Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, John Scott, 1st Earl of Clonmell. Scott was determined to absolutely dominate the Court of King's Bench and from the beginning he regarded Bennett, who was not a man inclined to take a subservient role, as his enemy: "one adverse to me", and apparently tried to block his appointment to the Bench.[2] Scott regarded another colleague, William Henn, Bennett's cousin as "at best a fool".[3] Only after Bennett's death and Henn's retirement was Scott in the 1790s able to remould his Court as he wished.

Family

Bennett married Jane Lovett, daughter of Jonathan Lovett senior, of the prominent landowning family of Kingswell, County Tipperary, and his wife Ellen Mansergh. Jane was the sister of Sir Jonathan Lovett, first and last of the Lovett baronets. They had several children, including John Bennett junior of Hiverston, and Jane, who married Richard Pennefather (1773-1859), Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland).

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References
  • Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926
  • Burke, John and Burke, Sir Bernard Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Scotland and Ireland London 1841
  • Lenox-Conyngham, Melosina Diaries of Ireland Lilliput Press Dublin 1998

Notes
  1. Ball p.175
  2. Lenox-Conyngham p.59
  3. Ball p.175
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