Robert Napier (judge)

[2] In 1593, he was knighted and sent to Ireland as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, against his own wish, as he considered it impossible for an honest man to live on the salary.

[1] Both senior and junior branches of the Napier family were inclined to the Roman Catholic faith, as were the families of both Robert's wives, the Warhams and the Dentons, but Robert was clearly never suspected of recusancy; his last will made provision for his burial, but contained no overt statement of his religious beliefs.

While some (though by no means all) other English judges found the damp Irish climate a burden which seriously affected their health, most of them made the effort to perform their duties conscientiously enough.

In 1600, he went back to England for good and refused to return to Dublin; he was suspended from office in 1601 and replaced the following year by the elderly but respected barrister Edmund Pelham.

Assisted by a number of grants from the Crown, he acquired extensive estates in the county, including Middlemarsh Grange, Minterne Magna, which became the family seat.

In his will he left money for the accommodation of ten poor men in Dorchester: his son Nathaniel used it to build the Napier Almshouses in that town.