chancellor

chancellor, the royal official who had custody of the Irish great seal and was responsible for issuing letters in the king's name sealed with it. The first Irish chancellor was Ralph Neville, bishop of Chichester and chancellor of England, who was granted the Irish chancery for life in 1232. The office was subsequently held by bishops and priors of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in Ireland, as well as by administrators. The chancellor was the most senior member of the Irish council, frequently travelling around the country with the justiciar and taking part in military operations. He was paid an annual fee at the Irish exchequer and also received the money paid for the issue of letters under the great seal, out of which he had to maintain a staff of clerks. In 1395 this variable amount was replaced by an increase in his yearly fee.

With the growth of the court of chancery (see courts of law) from the 16th century, the judicial functions of the chancellor (now generally referred to as lord chancellor) became more important. But the holder of the office remained a central figure in the Irish executive. He presided over the Irish privy council when the chief governor was out of Dublin, and was frequently chosen as a lord justice. Indeed chancellors, as long‐term office holders, often had more experience in government than the chief governors. Furthermore they enjoyed considerable patronage in the courts and locally over justices of the peace and sheriffs, and hence over elections.

Following the Act of Union the chancellor lost one important function, that of presiding over meetings of the House of Lords. Thereafter the office became primarily a legal one, though holders left office on changes of government. In 1922 the functions of the lord chancellor passed to the chief justice of the Irish Free State.

Philomena Connolly/ and Hiram Morgan