Richard Plunkett

Richard Plunkett (c.1340-1393) was an eminent Irish judge and statesmanof the fourteenth century,who held the offices of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. His descendants held the titles Baron Dunsany, Baron Killeen and Earl of Fingall.

He was born about 1340, son of Richard Plunkett of Rathregan, County Meath. The Plunketts were a long-established Anglo-Irish family of the Pale, whooriginally settled at Beaulieuin County Louthabout 1200. Another branch of the family later held the title Baron Louth.

He was consideredto be one of the best lawyers of his generation, and was appointedKing's Serjeant in 1372. He was already sufficiently eminent by 1364 to form part of the powerfuldelegation sent to England to describe the state of Irish government and tocomplainto King Edward IIIabout the corruption and maladministration of certain officials of the Crown in Ireland, in particular Thomas de Burley, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Hesat on aRoyal Commission which was set upto examine and remedy the abuses complained of. He was also a noted Parliamentarian; he sat in the Irish House of Commons and took a leadingpart in the Kilkenny Parliamentof 1374. He became a judge of the Irish Court of Common Pleas in 1376. In July 1388 he was promoted to Chief Justice of the King's Bench and the following September hewas made Lord Chancellor. Elrington Ball puts his death around 1389, but O'Flanagan states that he was still alive in1393,when Richard Northalis succeeded him asLord Chancellor.

O'Flanagan calls him one of the most eminent Irishmen of his time, a lawyer of great distinction and equally distinguished for his Parliamentary career.

Richard married Margaret, widow of Robert Burnell, of the leading Anglo-Irish Burnell family of Balgriffin, CountyDublin. They had three children, Christopher, John, and Anne. Christopher wasthe grandfather of the first Baron Killeen.