William Sambach

Sir William Sambach (died after 1643) was an English born lawyer and politician in seventeenth-century Ireland.

His surname is probably a variant on Sandbach. Since that family preserved a collection of his papers^[1] it is likely that he belonged to the Sandbachs of Tarporley, Cheshire, later famous as the owners of Hafodunos Hall.

Little is known of his early career, but he may have arrived in Ireland in 1633 with Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to whom he seems to have been close. He became Recorder of Carrickfergus and then Second Serjeant in 1637. Unusually he was allowed to hold both offices at once, possibly because his salary as Serjeant was inadequate.^[2]

In 1640 he was elected to the Irish House of Commons as member for Carrickfergus and in the same year became Solicitor General for Ireland.^[3] After the downfall of Strafford, Sambach continued to defend his policies; during the comprehensive attack on Strafford's rule known as "the Queries", Sambach was one of the few to speak in Strafford's defence, and to denounce the Queries. Precisely when he stepped down as Solicitor General is unclear: in the confusion of the times the office simply seems to have lapsed and he was not replaced.

During the Irish Rebellion of 1641 he remained a committed Royalist, and by his own account suffered much damage to his property as a result.^[4] He lived at Balyna, near Moyvalley, County Kildare: in 1642 he petitioned the Crown for redress for the great loss and damage he had suffered.^[5] He had one daughter, who married John Moore of Croghan and had five children including Thomas, grandfather of the 1st Earl of Charleville.^[6]

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