Maziere Brady

Sir Maziere Brady, 1st Baronet,PC (Ire)(20 July 1796 – 13 April 1871) was anIrishjudge, notable for his exceptionally long, though not particularly distinguished tenure asLord Chancellor of Ireland.

Background

Brady was born at his parents' house on Parliament Street,Dublin,the second son of Francis Tempest Brady ofBooterstown,a manufacturer of gold and silver thread, and his wife Charlotte Hodgson, daughter of William Hodgson ofCastledawson,County Londonderry.He was baptised atSt Werburgh's Church, Dublin.He was the brother ofSir Nicholas Brady,Lord Mayor of Dublin,and uncle of the eminent ecclesiastical historianWilliam Maziere Brady.

The Bradys were an old and distinguishedMunsterfamily who were particularly associated with the town ofBandon, County Cork.Probably the most celebrated of his ancestors was the poet and psalmistNicholas Brady(1659–1726), who collaborated withNahum Tate,thePoet Laureate,onNew Version of the Psalms of David.

Nicholas Brady (1659-1726), the poet, ancestor of Maziere Brady

Other notable forebears includeHugh Brady,the firstProtestantBishop of Meath(d.1584), his father-in-lawRobert Westonwho, like Maziere served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and the judge and authorLuke Gernon(d. 1672), who is now best remembered for his workA Discourse of Ireland(1620), which gives a detailed and (from the Englishcolonialpoint of view) not unsympathetic picture of the state of Ireland in 1620.

Education

He was educated atTrinity College Dublin,and took his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1816. He entered theMiddle Templein 1816, wascalled to the Barin 1819 and becameKing's Counselin 1835.

Legal and Judicial career

In politics he was aLiberaland supportedCatholic Emancipation.He sat on a commission of inquiry into Irishmunicipal corporationsin 1833. He was appointedSolicitor-General for Irelandin 1837 andAttorney-General for Irelandthe following year. In 1840 he was appointedLord Chief Baron of the Exchequerin Ireland. In 1846 he was appointedLord Chancellor of Irelandand served in that office, with short intervals for the next 20 years.He retired in 1866 and was made abaronet,of Hazelbrook in theCounty of Dublin,in 1869.His appointment ended the practice which grew up after theAct of Union 1800of appointing only English lawyers as Lord Chancellor of Ireland (with the exception ofWilliam Plunket, 1st Baron Plunketwho served from 1830 to 1834 and from 1835 to 1841). He sat on the Government Commission onTrinity College Dublinin 1851, and was nominated as Vice-Chancellor ofQueen's University Belfastin 1850. All through his life, he showed a keen interest in education.

Reputation

According to Elrington Ball, Brady's Lord Chancellorship was notable for its length but for nothing else. Ball called him "a good Chief Baron spoiled to make a bad Chancellor".By general agreement he had been an excellent Chief Baron of the Exchequer, having a reputation for being fair-minded, courteous and approachable, but in Ball's view, the more onerous (and partly political) office of Lord Chancellor was beyond his capacity. Unlike some judges whose training had been in thecommon law,he never quite mastered the separate code ofequity.Delaney takes a somewhat more favourable view of Brady as Lord Chancellor, arguing that while his judgements do not show any great depth of learning they do show an ability to identify the central issue of any case and to apply the correct legal principle to it.

An anonymous pamphlet from 1850, which was highly critical of the Irish judiciary in general, described Brady as being unable to keep order in his Court, and easily intimidated by counsel, especially by that formidable trio of future judges,Jonathan Christian,Francis Alexander FitzGerald,andAbraham Brewster.The author painted an unflattering picture of Brady as sitting "baffled and bewildered" in a Court where he was "a judge but not an authority".On the other hand, Jonathan Christian, who had often clashed with Brady in Court, later praised him as "no ordinary man" despite his shortcomings as a judge: Christian described him as "independent-minded, patriotic, natural and unaffected".

Family and personal life

He was a founder member of the Stephen's Green Club and a member of theRoyal Dublin Societyand theRoyal Irish Academy.As well as the arts he showed a keen interest in science, especially after his retirement. Like most judges of the time, he had both a townhouse in central Dublin and a place some way out of the city centre. His country house was Hazelbrook,Terenure,Dublin; he changed his townhouse several times, settling finally in Pembroke Street, where he died in 1871.He is buried inMount Jerome Cemetery.

Brady married firstly Elizabeth Anne Buchanan, daughter of Bever Buchanan,apothecaryof Dublin, and his wife Eleanor Hodgson, in 1823 and they had five children:

• Sir Francis William Brady, 2nd Baronet (1824–1909), who succeeded to the title, followed his father to the Bar and later became a County Court judge
• Maziere, who was also a barrister
• Eleanor (d. 1891) who married the Reverend Benjamin Puckle, Rector ofGraffham,but had no issue
• Charlotte (1829–1913) who married the Reverend John Westropp Brady, Rector ofSlane
• Elizabeth-Anne

Remarriage and death

Elizabeth Buchanan Brady died in 1858. In 1860, Brady remarried Mary Hatchell, daughter ofJohn Hatchell,Attorney General for Irelandand Elizabeth Waddy, who survived him. He died on 13 April 1871.

Tomb of Sir Maziere inSt Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.

Arms

Coat of arms of Maziere Brady

Notes Confirmed 9 December 1868 bySir John Bernard Burke,Ulster King of Arms. Crest A martlet Or charged on the breast with a trefoil slipped Vert. Escutcheon A saltire engrailed Or between four martlets Argent on a chief Gules three dishes each holding a boar's head couped of the second. Motto Vincit Pericula Virtus

External links

• Hutchinson, John (1902)."Brady, Sir Maziere".A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices(1 ed.). Canterbury: the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. p. 28.