Ambrose Forth

[2] He also enjoyed the support of several of the leading English statesmen of the time, and visited London every year or two to consult them.

[2] In fact he seems to have been well-rewarded for his official duties: in 1591 he received grants of lands at Trevet, near Dunshaughlin, and at Kells, Clongorman, Ballinagrange and Ballinaclaye in County Meath.

[3] In 1575 the Lord High Admiral, Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, created a separate, though subordinate, Court of Admiralty in Ireland.

[1] His reason for taking this step was the lack of any Irish Court which could try cases of piracy, or deal with the disposition of prize ships.

Although he had been appointed the Admiralty judge largely to deal with the problem, he apparently thought that his powers were inadequate.

[1] His authority was also limited by the fact that Irish litigants had a right of appeal to the English Admiralty, as the Lord High Admiral of England remained the final authority in all maritime law cases, although a local Court of Appeal for Admiralty cases sat in Ireland for a few years.

He was troubled by the expenses suffered by Irish litigants who were required to appear before the English Court, and wrote to Caesar about the matter in 1591.