William Ryves

[4] He also stressed the importance of both offices, they being the officials in whom above all others the King placed his special trust for the preservation of his revenues and possessions.

As Attorney General, he acted regularly as an extra judge of assize, and sat in the Irish House of Commons as member for Belturbet in the Parliament of 1634-5.

[5] Unlike Davies he seems to have made no effort as Attorney General to influence Government policy: he has been described as simply "a cog in the administrative machine".

[6] While he had depended on his connection to Sir John Davies (who died late in 1626) for his early advancement, his subsequent promotion was due to the patronage of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, the formidable and virtually all-powerful Lord Deputy of Ireland.

[7] Strafford's downfall in 1640–41, leading to his execution for treason, did not damage Ryves' career as it did that of some of his colleagues, notably Sir Richard Bolton, the Lord Chancellor.

Parliament resolved in May 1641 that Bolton was unfit to preside as Speaker of the Irish House of Lords, and Ryves was appointed to act in his place.

[7] Rather surprisingly for so eminent a lawyer, he left only a nunciaptive will i.e. he gave verbal instructions on his deathbed as to the disposition of the estate to those present, of whom we know the name of one, Mrs Verschoyle.

In 1656 Lady Ryves ("Dame Dorothy") and Ferrar brought a lawsuit to recover a loan made by her first husband, who had appointed her his sole executor of his will.