Lawrence Parsons (judge)

Sir Lawrence Parsons (died 1628) was an English-born barrister, judge and politician in seventeenth-century Ireland, who enjoyed a highly successful career, despite frequent accusations of corruption and neglect of official duty.

His success owed much to the patronage of his uncle Sir Geoffrey Fenton, of his cousin by marriage Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, and of the prime Royal favourite, the Duke of Buckingham.

[3] He was appointed Attorney General for Munster in 1612, and sat in the Irish House of Commons in the Parliament of 1613–15 as MP for Tallow, along with Sir Gerard Lowther the elder, uncle and namesake of his future son-in-law.

[1] While he owed much to the goodwill of his uncle Sir Geoffrey Fenton (who died in 1608) and to Lord Cork, who was rapidly becoming the dominant political figure in Munster, and with whom he exchanged lavish gifts,[1] his most powerful patron was the prime royal favourite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham.

[1] There was much adverse comment about the judges' conduct at the trial, but the full investigation into the Bushen case, an inquiry which ultimately destroyed Sarsfield's career, did not take place until 1633, by which time Parsons was dead.

[1] In his last years, he was engaged in a battle to retain control of the Court of Admiralty, in face of the rival claim of Loftus, who took advantage of Parsons's suspension in 1627 to try to regain his seat there.

[5] While he is mainly associated with Birr Castle, he lived for many years in Myrtle Grove, Youghal, the former home of Sir Walter Raleigh, which he leased from the Earl of Cork,[1] and also owned a house in Rathfarnham, Dublin, where he died in September 1628.

[6] By his wife, Anne Malham of Yorkshire,[6] a relative of the prominent Tempest family, he had three sons: -and at least two daughters: Lady Parsons died in October 1646; her will, made in 1644, survives.