Robert Holmes (barrister)

[1] He spent a substantial period of his professional life travelling the north-east circuit in Ireland, where he gained a reputation for great ability and legal skill.

To one Joy, a barrister, who had used insulting language to him respecting this circumstance, he sent a challenge, for which he suffered three months' imprisonment.

With the rising of his brother-in-law, Robert Emmet, on 23 July 1803, he had no connection, although he was arrested on suspicion and imprisoned for some months.

He declined to receive any favours from the government, refusing in succession the offices of crown prosecutor, king's counsel, and solicitor-general, and to the last he remained a member of the outer bar.

[1] He had for many years the largest practice of any member of the Irish courts, and was listened to with attention by judges, although he was not always very civil to them.

His most important work however, according to Peter Aloysius Sillard, was "The Case of Ireland Stated," which apparently went through six editions, the last in 1847.