Richard Power (Monaghan politician) facts for kids
Richard Power (c. 1732–1794) was an Irish politician, barrister and judge of the late eighteenth century. He sat in the Irish House of Commons from 1767 to 1772, and was then appointed a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). He was also Usher and Accountant-General of the Court of Chancery (Ireland). In his role as Accountant-General, he was accused of illegally enriching himself, and the resulting charge of corruption led to his death by ... in 1794.
Career
He was born in County Tipperary in about 1733, one of the three sons of John Power of Barretstown and Elizabeth Congreve, daughter of the Reverend John Congreve of Kilmacow, County Kilkenny and Rebecca Jones, and granddaughter of the Cromwellian army officer and politician Oliver Jones MP.
He was an excellent and careful judge. Probably the most notable trial he presided at was of the eccentric landowner George Robert FitzGerald, who, together with his law agent Timothy Brecknock, was charged in 1786 with conspiracy to murder an attorney, Patrick Randall McDonnell, with whom he had a long-standing quarrel. FitzGerald was found guilty and hanged (as was Brecknock), although Power had some doubts about the conduct of the prosecution's case, and clashed in open Court with counsel for the prosecution, John Fitzgibbon, thereby making a powerful enemy for the future.
Disgrace
His highly successful career came to a tragic end in 1794, due to his alleged misconduct as Accountant-General of the Court of Chancery, a post to which he had been appointed in 1763, and which he continued to hold after he became a judge. This office entitled him to have personal charge of all funds lodged in the Court of Chancery in pending lawsuits.
A lengthy lawsuit having concluded concerning the administration of the property of the widowed Anna Eliza Brydges, Duchess of Chandos, who was insane and had been made a ward of Court, the successful party claimed the interest on the sum due to him. The sum was estimated at £3000, a small fortune at the time. Power declined to pay the interest, saying that the claimant was only entitled to the principal, and that as Accountant, he was entitled to retain the interest. The claimant appealed to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare. The Chancellor took a serious view of the matter and ordered Power to appear personally before him to account for his conduct, in language calculated to cause Power the maximum embarrassment. Power strongly objected to the order, saying that it was beneath his dignity to answer to another judge, particularly one who though technically senior to him in rank had not even been called to the Bar when Power became a judge (the two men had already clashed at the FitzGerald trial in 1786, where the Chancellor had been counsel for the prosecution). The Chancellor was inflexible and gave Power just five days to appear before him. Rumours began to circulate that Power had accumulated his considerable fortune by improperly retaining other funds in a similar fashion.
Sources
- The Annual Register for the Year 1794
- Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 London John Murray 1926
- Baratariana- a select collection of fugitive political pieces, published during the administration of Lord Townshend in Ireland 3rd Edition Dublin 1797
- Geoghegan, Patrick M. "Power, Richard" Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography
