Edward Somerton

[2] He was appointed King's Serjeant for life in 1437; he also acted as counsel for the city of Waterford,[3] a position subsequently held by another future judge, John Gough.

The Crown agreed to his demand for an increase, noting that he was required to attend all Council meetings and sessions of Irish Parliament "wherever they should be held in Ireland" at his own expense, and that £9 a year was wholly inadequate for this purpose.

[3] In 1441, due to serious concerns about the lawless state of the southern half of the country, the Privy Council appointed Somerton and William Chevir, justice of the Court of King's Bench, to a commission of oyer and terminer to "execute the laws" in 6 counties of Leinster and Munster.

[6] His period as King's Serjeant, then the Crown's senior legal adviser,[7] was one of great political turbulence, marked by fierce conflict between the rival Butler and Talbot factions, with both parties contending to dominate the Government.

Although Robert Dyke, the Master of the Rolls in Ireland from 1436 to 1449, was a firm supporter of the Butler side in the feud and necessarily hostile to the Talbot faction, Somerton valued him highly as an "honest life and conversation" who had given many years of good service to the Crown.