Geoffrey Osbaldeston
Geoffrey Osbaldeston (1558-c.1635) was an English born politician and judge who had a long but undistinguished career in Ireland.[1]
He was the third son of Edward Osbaldeston of Osbaldeston Hall, a member of an old and prominent Lancashire family, and Maud, daughter of Sir Thomas Halsall.[2] The Osbaldestons were related to the Stanleys, Earls of Derby, and Edward seems to have owed his rise to their patronage. He was educated at St Mary Hall, Oxford and entered Gray's Inn in 1577, becoming Ancient of the Inn in 1593.[3] He sat in the House of Commons of England as member for Newton in the Parliament of 1597-8.
In 1601 his patroness Alice, Countess of Derby lobbied on his behalf for an official position in Ireland. In 1605 he was sent there as a justice of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland). Unfortunately the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Arthur Chichester, soon formed a very poor view of his efficiency,[4] and within two years he was moved to the office of Chief Justice of Connacht;[5] a move which was universally seen as a demotion for incompetence.[6] He served on a number of commissions and wrote a report on the state of Galway City in 1626. He retired in 1634;[7] his precise date of death does not seem to be recorded.
He married Lucy Warren of Poynton in Cheshire and had three children;[8] through his daughter Deborah he was the ancestor of the prominent Lyster family of County Roscommon. Richard Osbaldeston, Attorney General for Ireland, was a cousin of Geoffrey in the next generation.
References
- Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 London John Murray 1926
- Burke, Oliver Anecdotes of the Connaught Circuit Hodges Figgis Dublin 1885
- Hesler, P.W. ed. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 1981