Thomas Kelly (politician)

Thomas Kelly (1723–1809) was an Irish barrister, judge and politician: he held the office of Serjeant-at-law (Ireland). He sat briefly in the Irish House of Commons and was then appointed a justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland). In his own lifetime his lack of legal knowledge was proverbial, although he was a kindly and popular man. In the nineteenth century his principal claim to fame lay in being the father of Thomas Kelly junior, a prollific writer of hymns and founder of a Protestant sect.

Early life

He was born at Fidane, in County Galway, third son of Edmond Kelly, or O'Kelly, a minor landowner, and Margery Bourke. His family were Roman Catholic, but Thomas from necessity became a member of the Church of Ireland, as Catholics were then barred under the Penal Laws from entering any profession. He entered Middle Temple in 1747 and was called to the Bar in 1753; he is said then to have spent some years in the West Indies. Returning to Ireland he went on the Connacht circuit, where sat as an extra judge of assize; he became King's Counsel in 1767 and Prime Serjeant in 1782.

Political and judicial career

He entering politics, and was a close friend and strong supporter of Henry Grattan and sat briefly as MP for Portarlington in 1783. His support for the cause of full independence for the Parliament of Ireland had made him very popular, and this popularity enabled him to become one of the most successful barristers of the time, which in turn led to a place on the Bench in 1783, and a seat on the Privy Council of Ireland.

Reputation

Kelly as a judge proved to be something of an embarrassment to the Government which had appointed him. His problem, according to his colleague on the Bench, the memoirist Sir Jonah Barrington, was that his great popularity as a barrister was entirely unrelated to his legal abilities, which were mediocre at best, and he was appointed to the Bench in the apparent belief that his legal learning was much greater than it really was. Barrington records a story of Kelly, who had decided a point of law wrongly twice, expressing the hope that he could get the law right the third time. Nonetheless he retained his great popularity, having the reputation of being a kindly and humane judge, with a sense of humour, and a reluctance, unusual at the time, to impose the death penalty. Barrington's low opinion of Kelly as a judge was fully shared by the English-born politician Edward Cooke, always a stern critic of the Irish judiciary: he wrote that "Kelly has been most unfortunate in his judgments: scarcely one upon a dubious point which has not been set aside."

Death

He had a town house in Dublin and a country seat, Kellyville (formerly Derrinroe), near Ballintubbert, County Laois, which he purchased around 1777, and substantially rebuilt. He retired in 1801: by some accounts he resigned in protest against the passing of the Act of Union 1800, which destroyed the independent Irish Parliament to which Kelly was devoted. He died in Dublin in 1809.

Family

He married Frances Hickie, daughter of James Jephson Hickie of Carrick-on-Suir; they had three daughters, Annabella, Harriet and Charlotte, and one son, Rev. Thomas Kelly (1769–1855).

Thomas Kelly junior (1769–1855) and the Kellyites

The younger Thomas published at least eight volumes of hymns. He was originally intended for the Bar, like his father. He took holy orders instead, but was unable to accept the discipline of the Church of Ireland and was prohibited from preaching by Robert Fowler, Archbishop of Dublin. In consequence he founded his own small breakaway sect, usually called the Kellyites.