William Skrene

William Skrene (c.1350-1421) was an Irish-bornlawyer and judge who spent mostof hisadult life in England, where he became a prominent landowner and magistrate. He also served briefly as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer.

He was born in County Meath, to a family which derived its name from the village of Skryne, or Skreen, in that county.By his own account he endeavoured for severalyearsto study law, but was hampered by the fact that Ireland, until the sixteenth century,had no formallaw school, and students could not travel abroad without leave. In 1380 he obtained the necessarypermission to go to England to study law at Clifford's Inn. He was called to the bar and became a Serjeant-at-law in 1396.

In 1394 he obtained permissionto settle in Englandpermanently,and he wasexempted from any requirement to contribute tothe defence of Ireland.He did return to Ireland as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequerin 1395, buthe seems to have served in that office forlittle more than a year before returning to England, where he remained for the rest of his life.

He acted regularlyas a justice of the peace,andsat on numerous commissions for the peace, especially in Essex, where he became a major landowner, acquiring the manors ofWrittle, Great Finborough and Stanford Rivers. He also had a London housein the parish of St Mary le Strand. He died in 1421.

He married Alice, daughter of Sir William Rykhill,and had three children: William, his heir, who died in 1431,Thomas and Margaret. Sir John Skrene (died 1475), the younger William's grandson, was the judge'slast male heir. His death resulted in Skrene's case, which was of some importance on the law of wardship; it involved a dispute over the inheritance of Sir John' s grandmother, Elizabeth, widow of the younger William.