Henry Burnell (c. 1540–1614) was an Irish judge and politician; he served briefly as Recorder of Dublin and as a justice of the Court of King's Bench.
His professional reputation was gravely damaged in his later years by a verdict that he was guilty of forgery, when he was convicted and fined for having altered a deed concerning the inheritance of the 11th Earl of Kildare's estate.
Henry's father had managed to retain the family estates, of which Castleknock was the most important, after his cousin, another John Burnell, had been executed for his part in the rebellion of Silken Thomas in the 1530s.
His sister Alice married Richard Talbot of Templeogue, a prominent Dublin landowner and later a judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland).
Henry was at Lincoln's Inn in 1561-2 and was one of a group of Irish students who compiled a book detailing the maladministration of the Pale (those four counties which were under secure Crown control).
[3] Even Sir Henry Sidney, a stern critic of Burnell, admitted to his great success at the Bar, which made him a rich man.
The mission went badly: Elizabeth took grave offence at the challenge to her royal prerogative, and at Sidney's urging, she imprisoned the three lawyers in the Fleet Prison.
"[6] As opposition to Sidney's plans mounted, and he began thinking of asking for his recall to England, the political tension eased, and the three lawyers were freed in return for making an abject apology.
[11] Jon Crawford in his detailed analysis of the trial cautions against placing too much reliance on evidence from witnesses who were describing the events of more than 20 years past.
Such behaviour from an eminent lawyer, whom even his critics admitted was an honest man, seems extraordinary, but the Kildares were his most important clients and he may have wished to retain the Countess' business by obliging her in the matter of the deed.
[1] Christopher was the father of Henry Burnell the younger, who was a leader of the Irish Confederacy and a well-known author, best remembered for his play Landgartha.