Thomas Snagge (1536–1593) was a Member of Parliament, barrister and landowner who served as Speaker of the English House of Commons, Attorney General for Ireland and as Queen's Sergeant.
[1] The Queen chose him because he had a reputation for efficiency, and "the public service had been not a little hindered through the default and insufficiency of m the [Irish] law officers" and "her Majesty thought that a person well-chosen in England might be sent over".
[2] Snagge as it turned out was not particularly well-chosen: he had not wanted the job and disliked living in Ireland and, according to a modern writer, his official correspondence is simply a long list of complaints.
[3] In particular, he complained of the inefficiency of the Master of the Rolls in Ireland, Nicholas White, and went so far as to make an official complaint against him to the Privy Council of England.
[5] Snagge died in 1593 and was entombed in St Mary's Church, Marston Moretaine, where an alabaster tomb carrying effigies of him and his wife survives.