High Sheriff of Mayo

The High Sheriff of Mayo was the British Crown’s judicial representative in County Mayo, Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Mayo County Sheriff. The sheriff had judicial, electoral, ceremonial and administrative functions and executed High Court Writs. In 1908, an Order in Council made the Lord-Lieutenant the Sovereign's prime representative in a county and reduced the High Sheriff's precedence. However the sheriff retained his responsibilities for the preservation of law and order in the county. The usual procedure for appointing the sheriff from 1660 onwards was that three persons were nominated at the beginning of each year from the county and the Lord Lieutenant then appointed his choice as High Sheriff for the remainder of the year. Often the other nominees were appointed as under-sheriffs. Sometimes a sheriff did not fulfil his entire term through death or other event and another sheriff was then appointed for the remainder of the year. The dates given hereunder are the dates of appointment. All addresses are in County Mayo unless stated otherwise.

High Sheriffs of County Mayo

• 1583: John Brown (1st High Sheriff)
• 1587-1589: John Brown (killed Mar 1589)
• 1639: Sir Henry Bingham, 1st Baronet ^[1]
• 1641: John Garvey
• 1656: Sir Arthur Gore, 1st Baronet ^[1]
• 1662: Lucas Dillon ^[1]
• 1662: Sir George Bingham, 2nd Baronet ^[1]
• 1670: Sir Arthur Gore, 1st Baronet
• 1678: Sir George Bingham, 2nd Baronet ^[1]
• 1684: Sir Henry Bingham, 3rd Baronet ^[1]
• 1690: George Browne ^[1]
• 1694: Sir Henry Bingham, 3rd Baronet ^[1]
• 1711: Sir Arthur Gore, 2nd Baronet ^[1]
• 1721: Sir John Bingham, 5th Baronet ^[1]
• 1731: John Browne, 1st Earl of Altamont ^[1]
• 1747: Sir George Browne, 6th Baronet ^[1]
• 1755: Roger Palmer, later Sir Roger Palmer, 1st Baronet of Castlelacken ^[2]
• 1756: Charles Bingham, 1st Earl of Lucan ^[1]
• 1765: Arthur Saunders Gore, 2nd Earl of Arran of the Arran Islands ^[1]
• 1776: Neale O'Donnell,later Sir Neale O'Donnell, 1st Baronet of Newport
• 1778: John Browne, 1st Baron Kilmaine ^[1]
• 1779: John Denis Browne, 1st Marquess of Sligo ^[1]
• 1781: Valentine Blake ^[1]
• 1786: Hon. Denis Browne ^[3]
• 1787: Charles Dillon-Lee, 12th Viscount Dillon of Costello-Gallin ^[1]
• 1788: John Browne, 1st Baron Kilmaine ^[1]
• 1796: Joseph Lambert ^[1]
• 1791: Sir John Edmond Browne, 1st Baronet ^[1]
• 1821: Dominick Browne ^[4]
• 1824: Colonel George Jackson, of Enniscoe^[5]
• 1825: Annesley Knox, of Rappa Castle.^[6]
• 1826: Sir William Brabazon, 2nd Baronet ^[1]
• 1827: George Ormsby, of Gortner Abbey, Crossmolina ^[7]
• 1828: Patrick Kirwan, of Dalgin-park, Headfort.^[8]
• 1829: Annesley Knox of Rappa Castle, Ballina ^[9]
• 1834: Sir Richard Annesley O'Donell, Baronet ^[10]
• 1834: John Gardiner, of Farmhill, Kilala ^[11]
• 1837: Sir William O'Malley^[9]
• 1839: Valentine O'Connor Blake ^[1]
• 1841: Honorable Geoffry Dominick Browne ^[4]
• 1843: Mervyn Pratt ^[1]
• 1845: Henry W. Knox, of Netley.^[12]
• 1846: Patrick Crean Lynch, of Cloghr House, Ballyglass ^[4]
• 1849: Anthony Ormsby of Ballinamore, Ballyglass.^[13]
• 1850: Charles Mahon, of Mount Pleasant Ballyglass.^[14]
• 1860: Charles Knox of Ballinrobe
• 1862: Philip Taaffe of Woodville, Kilkelly.^[15]
• 1864: Maurice Charles Joseph Blake, CB ^[1]
• 1876: Joseph Pratt ^[1]
• 1881: Dominick Andrew Browne ^[1]
• 1884: Robert Vesey Stoney ^[1]
• 1886: Frederic Thomas Lewin, DL, JP
• 1888: Sir Roger William Henry Palmer, 5th Baronet ^[2]
• 1889: Sir George Clendining O'Donell, 5th Baronet ^[16]
• 1895: William Boyd Saunders
• 1896: Dominick Sidney Browne ^[1]
• 1900: William Arthur Gore Saunders
• 1905: George Moore
• 1906: Joseph Alexander Lambert ^[1]
• 1908: Thomas Frederic Lewin ^[17]
• 1909: Desmond Gerald Fitzgerald ^[1]
• 1912: Brigadier-Gen. Arthur Corrie Lewin, C.B.,C.M.G., D.S.O.^[17]
• 1916: Valentine Joseph Blake ^[1]
• 1922: Victor Arthur Tilson Shaen Carter ^[1]

References