Richard Nutley

Richard Nutley (1670-1729) was an English-born lawyer, politician and judge in early eighteenth-century Ireland. He had a reputation for professional dishonesty, although he enjoyed the friendship of Jonathan Swift.^[1]

Family

He was the second son of William Nutley, a barrister of the Middle Temple; his brother, also named William, had some reputation as a poet.^[2] He matriculated from New Inn Hall, University of Oxford in 1688, graduated Bachelor of Arts 1691, and Master of Arts 1694.^[3]

Career

He followed his father to the Middle Temple in 1695 and was called to the Bar in 1698. He went to Ireland in 1699 as secretary to the Royal Commission on Forfeited Estates. He entered the King's Inn the same year, and was elected to the Irish House of Commons as member for Lisburn in 1703. As a barrister he acquired a reputation for dishonesty: in 1707 it was claimed that he had fraudulently altered a decree of the Irish House of Lords which was unfavourable to his client. For a time he was forbidden to appear before the House of Lords but influential friends, including the Irish Archbishops, had the ban lifted.^[4] This did not save his reputation: a well-known satire called him "Nut-brain the daggle-gown". Nonetheless his practice was extremely successful: out of his income he was able to pay his brother William, who had become impoverished, a pension of £300 a year.^[5]

Judge

The most powerful of his political allies was James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, head of the great Butler dynasty and twice Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Nutley was acting as his financial agent in 1703, endeavouring to raise money on the family estates (which were already heavily encumbered with mortgages), and afterwards became his steward.^[6] It was Ormonde's influence which led to his elevation to the Court of King's Bench (Ireland) in 1711.^[7]

He was no more highly regarded as a judge than he had been as a lawyer: his decisions were influenced by his extreme Tory views, and his colleagues accused him of misleading them for political purposes. As early as 1712 his removal from the Bench was said to be imminent. Those years saw a bitter dispute between the Crown and Dublin Corporation concerning the appointment of the Lord Mayor of Dublin and other officials: Nutley like all his colleagues on the Bench sided with the Crown, and signed a report justifying the Crown's stance in the matter. Nutley was sent to London in 1714 to explain the judges' conduct.^[8]

Official business in Dublin reached deadlock: much of the blame for the controversy was placed on the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Sir Constantine Phipps.^[9] Elrington Ball, perhaps with some exaggeration, called Phipps "the pivot on which all debate turned". Nutley could not avoid being drawn into the attacks on Phipps, since the two men were politically very close: Nutley was unkindly called Phipps' "creature". In 1713 it was rumoured, wrongly, that the new Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Duke of Shrewsbury, would make the dismissal of both Phipps and Nutley a condition of his taking up office.^[10]

Later life

Nutley managed to retain office until August of 1714, when on the death of Queen Anne, the new King George I removed her Irish judges en bloc. Nutley's patron Ormonde nominated him to be deputy steward of Westminster Abbey, but the Dean and Chapter of Westminster vetoed the appointment, and he returned to his practice at the Irish Bar.^[11]

James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde

Ormonde's defection to the Jacobite cause, and his flight to France in August 1715, was a great blow to Nutley. It was anticipated, wrongly, that he would follow Ormonde into exile, but it seems that his own political views were not sufficiently strong for him to give up what was still, despite his loss of office, a comfortable enough life in Dublin.^[12] In 1719 it was rumoured that he was sheltering the Duke in his house at Mary Street in Dublin, but there seems to be no substance to this.^[13]

In 1716 the old controversy between the Corporation and the Crown was revived. Nutley was examined by the House of Commons on the reports he had signed in 1712-3. He insisted he had acted impartially, but the Commons resolved that he was guilty of high crimes and misdemeanours. The controversy quickly died down : no further action was taken against him, and in 1723 it was suggested that he might be reappointed to the Bench.^[14]

He died in Dublin of appendicitis in 1729 and was buried in St Mary's Church, Dublin. He married Phillipa Venables in 1708.^[15]

Character

Elrington Ball called Nutley a man who brought "much wordly wisdom but little rectitude" to the Irish Bench.^[16] On the other hand he treated his brother with great generosity, and his friendly correspondence with Jonathan Swift suggests that Swift had some regard for him.^[17]

References