Thomas Dowdall (judge)

Thomas Dowdall or Dowedall (died c.1492) was an Irish barrister and judge who held office as Master of the Rolls in Ireland.

He was born in County Louth, son of Sir Robert Dowdall, who was for many years Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, and his wife Anne Wogan. The Dowdall or Dovedale family came to Ireland from Dovedale in Derbyshire in the thirteenth century. Sir Thomas Dowdall, who married Elizabeth Holywood of Artane, widow of the third Baron Delvin, about 1450, was probably a close relative. Elizabeth's third husband was Peter Trevers, Dowdall's predecessor as Master of the Rolls, an example of how small the world of the Anglo-Irish ruling class was in that era.

He was studying law at Lincoln's Inn in 1459. He returned to Ireland and was made Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) in 1462: he was confirmed in office by Parliament in December 1469. In 1471 he was described as a "counter" (this was probably an office in the Exchequer of Ireland) and later that year he was appointed Master of the Rolls. He was summoned to England on official business in 1479.

Like the great majority of the Anglo-Irish gentry, which included all the High Court judges, he made the mistake of supporting the claims of the pretender Lambert Simnel in 1487 to be the rightful King of England. Simnel's cause was crushed at the Battle of Stoke Field. The victorious King Henry VII was prepared to be magnanimous to the defeated rebels and Dowdall and his judicial colleagues received a royal pardon. He probably died in 1492.

James Dowdall, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland 1583-4, was a descendant of Thomas.

References

• Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926
• Hart, A.R. History of the King's Serjeant-at-law in Ireland Four Courts Press Dublin 2000