Ralph Rokeby

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Ralph Rokeby (c.1527-1596) was an English barrister and judge who also held high office in Ireland.

He was born at Mortham in Yorkshire, second son of Thomas Rokeby and Jane Constable. He was educated at the University of Cambridge and Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the Bar.

He first went to Ireland in the service of Queen Elizabeth I in 1566, and was recalled early in 1569. At the end of the same year he was appointed the first Chief Justice of Connacht, with the task of introducing the common law into the Province of Connacht. He found it a discouraging task, writing to Lord Burghley that the people of Connacht "were unwilling to embrace justice"; what was needed in his view was the subduing of the province by military means, or else "farewell Ireland". Power to impose martial law in the province and to pursue the King's enemies with "fire and sword" were in fact granted in 1604.

He earned the regard of Adam Loftus, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and Sir William FitzWilliam, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, both of whom suggested that he might replace Loftus as Lord Chancellor.

He may have represented Huntingdon in the English Parliament of 1571 but the records are missing. He was certainly back in England by 1577 and became Master of Requests about 1586. He was also employed on several commissions for the detection of recusants and traitors, including those which indicted William Parry and Anthony Babington. He sat as a judge at the trials of Philip, Earl of Arundel, Sir John Perrot, Dr Lopez and Patrick O'Collun. He was a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn and Master of St Catherine's Hospital near the Tower of London.

He died on 14 June 1596 and was buried in St Andrew, Holborn. He never married, though he obtained leave of absence to do so while in Ireland, and in his will his property was left to a variety of charitable causes.

References

  • Burke, Oliver Anecdotes of the Connaught Circuit Hodges Figgis Dublin 1885
  • Pollard, Albert Frederick "Ralph Rokeby" Dictionary of National Biography 1885-1900 Volume 49 p.152
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