Patrick Barnewall (Solicitor General)

Patrick Barnewall (c. 1500–1552) was a leading figure in the Irish Government of the 1530s and 1540s, due to his close links with Thomas Cromwell. He sat in the Irish House of Commons, and held the offices of Solicitor General for Ireland and Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Today he is mainly remembered for his role in founding the King's Inns. He belonged to a junior branch of the family of Lord Trimlestown: his own descendants held the title Viscount Barnewall of Kingsland.

He was the eldest son of Roger Barnewall, of the Kingsland branch of the well-known Barnewall family; Roger had married his cousin Alison, sister of John Barnewall, 3rd Baron Trimlestown, later Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Patrick's choice of a legal career no doubt owed something to his uncle's example; he is also said to have been greatly influenced by his brother-in-law Thomas Luttrell, later Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas. His most important political connection was with Thomas Cromwell, whom he probably met in London in the 1520s. Patrick was at Grays Inn in 1527, and is known to have taken part in the legal debates there. He returned to Ireland soon afterwards to practice at the Irish Bar.

His appointments as King's Sergeant and Solicitor General in 1534 were largely due to the patronage of Cromwell, who actively promoted the careers of Barnewall and Luttrell, and recommended Barnewall in particular for high office as being a man of "integrity and learning". His main rivals for power were the Cowleys, whose loyalty was to the Earl of Ormond. In 1535 Barnewall obtained the lucrative posts of Collector of Customs for Dublin and Drogheda, only to lose them to Walter and Robert Cowley. Walter also aimed for Barnewall's other offices, and in 1536 Barnewall went so far as to write an abject letter to Cromwell offering to surrender them. In the event a new office of Principal Solicitor for Ireland was created for Cowley; Barnewall retained his seniority and his influence. By his own account he was heavily involved in arguing lawsuits on behalf of the Crown before the Lord Chancellor, but there is evidence that his other duties made attendance in Court difficult: in 1537 John Bolter, a goldsmith, complained to Cromwell that his own case before the Lord Chancellor was being adjourned from one law term to the next at Barnewall's request. He sat in the Irish House of Commons as member for Dublin County in the Parliament of 1536-7: despite his heavy obligations to the Crown, he initially opposed the Protestant Reformation.

The rebellion of Silken Thomas was to involve Barnewall in the delicate task of pleading with Henry VIII for a general pardon on behalf of the Anglo-Irish gentry, who were under the collective suspicion of having supported it. Barnewall himself is not thought to have had any personal sympathy for the rebel cause, although his enemy Walter Cowley tried hard to persuade Cromwell that he had. His uncle Lord Trimlestown had, with more reason, been accused of wavering in his loyalty, but Cromwell was prepared to overlook this. Given the close ties of blood and marriage between nearly all the Anglo-Irish families of the Pale, it was reasonable that Barnewall, with his considerable influence at the English Court, should be asked by his relatives and neighbours to go to England to plead for a pardon, and he agreed to do so. It has been suggested that he was exposing himself to great danger, since there was a risk that the King would interpret any plea for mercy as evidence of support for the rebels: however, he used his influence with Cromwell to good effect, and during his visit to London in 1536-7 he succeeded in obtaining a general royal pardon for those involved, or suspected of involvement in the rebellion.

Barnewall's other mission in London was to deal with the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Ireland, which raised quite different issues in Ireland than in England. Much monastic land in Ireland was effectively in lay hands through leases and alienations, and the threat to dissolve the monasteries was therefore unwelcome to the landowners of the Pale, including Barnewall himself, who was the steward for seven manors in Ireland which were owned by the English Abbey of Keynsham. He became the effective leader of the opposition in the Irish House of Commons to the plan to dissolve the Irish monasteries and was asked to raise the matter with the King. This was another very delicate matter since Henry VIII was not noted for tolerating opposition to his wishes, and the Cowley family were busily spreading the story that Barnewall had challenged the King's authority to dissolve any religious house. Again however Barnewall's friendship with Cromwell was decisive and the plan to dissolve the Irish houses was abandoned in the short term.

The reprieve for the Irish monasteries was temporary, and Barnewall soon abandoned his opposition to their dissolution. He sat on the Commission for the surrender of the Irish monasteries during 1539–1541, and did well personally out of their suppression. It has been argued that he received a smaller reward than some of his colleagues, but in 1541 he bought the estates of the Abbey of Grace Dieu in County Dublin, and the following year those of the Carmelite priory in Knocktopher in County Kilkenny. In 1547 he obtained a lease of the possessions of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.

Barnewall is now chiefly remembered for his role in establishing the King's Inns. Again his friendship with Cromwell played an important part in furthering the project: on several occasions Barnewall raised with Cromwell the need for the establishment in Dublin of a college for the education of lawyers; and in April 1538 he wrote that as he had previously declared; "if your lordship thought it meet that there should be a house of chancery here, where such as were [inclined] towards the law and other young gentlemen, might be together, I reckon it would do much good".

His vision seems to have been of an Irish equivalent of the Inns of Court, where those young men "towards the law" i.e. law students, would mix socially with "other young gentlemen" who would spend a number of legal terms at the Inn, just as in England many young men of good birth spent time at the Inns of Court without any intention of practicing law,in order to make useful social contacts and gain a working familiarity with the law. Like most of the Anglo-Irish gentry (even those, like his brother-in-law Thomas Luttrell, who spoke fluent Irish) Barnewall also believed firmly in the civilising effect of English culture on the Irish people, and argued that the new Inn would encourage the use of the English language, as well as English customs and practice.

It is not known if Cromwell responded: but Barnewall presumably continued to press the matter even after Cromwell's downfall. He was one of the original lessees named in the lease of Blackfriars (the property comprising the present day King's Inns) by the King in 1541; and he was among those who signed the petition to the Privy Council later that year asking for the title to the property to be confirmed.

Barnewall was a key figure in the Irish Government during the years 1536–41,but thereafter his influence declined, no doubt due to Cromwell's ruin and death in 1540. Unlike his uncle and his brother-in-law he failed to achieve elevation to the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland, or to become Chief Justice of any of the courts of common law: he had hoped to be Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, but was passed over in favour of Richard Delahide, despite the fact that Delahide, unlike Barnewall, was deeply implicated in the Silken Thomas rebellion. He had to wait until 1550 to become Master of the Rolls, then a comparatively junior post, and he died only two years later.

Barnewall has been described as a "redoubtable figure" who was noted for his integrity and learning. Kenny describes him as an astute politician as well. Hart agrees with this verdict and notes the crucial role Barnewall played in Government; no other Solicitor General approached his influence.

If his opposition to the suppression of the monasteries was self-interested, it nonetheless took considerable nerve; he also deserves credit for the courage he showed by his willingness to plead with Henry VIII for a general pardon for those gentry suspected of rebellion.

Barnewall married before 1522 Anne Luttrell, sister of the future Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. They had two children:

• Sir Christopher Barnewall, an extremely popular member of Parliament and Sheriff of County Dublin, and ancestor of the Viscounts Barnewall
• Margaret, who married a cousin, also called Patrick Barnewall.