In the nineteenth century, his principal claim to fame lay in being the father of Thomas Kelly junior, a prolific writer of hymns and founder of a breakaway Protestant sect.
[2] On his return to Ireland he began his legal practice on the Connacht circuit, where he sat as an extra judge of assize; he became King's Counsel in 1767 and Prime Serjeant in 1782.
It seems to have been his popularity, rather than any great legal expertise, which enabled him to become one of the most successful barristers of his time,[2] and this, in turn, led to his gaining a seat on the Bench in 1783, and on the Privy Council of Ireland.
[3] Nonetheless he retained his great popularity, having the reputation of being a kindly and humane judge, with a sense of humour, and a notable reluctance, unusual at the time, to impose the death penalty.
He retired in 1801: by some accounts, he resigned in protest against the passing of the Act of Union 1800 which destroyed the independent Irish Parliament, to which Kelly was devoted.