Robert Sutton (Irish judge)
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Robert Sutton (c. 1340 – 1430) was an Irish judge and Crown official. During a career which lasted almost 60 years he served the English Crown in a variety of offices, notably as Deputy to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, Master of the Rolls in Ireland, and Deputy Treasurer of Ireland.[1] A warrant dated 1423 praised him for his "long and laudable" service to the Crown.
Little is known of his early life: the surname Sutton has been common in Ireland since the thirteenth century, especially in the south. William Sutton, who acted as his deputy from 1423 onwards and succeeded him as Master of the Rolls in 1430,[2] is thought to have been his nephew. William was a clerk in Crown service by 1404, and became Chief Engrosser (copier) in the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) in 1410.[3]
Robert was appointed to the living of St. Patrick's Church, Trim (now Trim Cathedral) in 1370; later he became Archdeacon of Kells and prebendary of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and later Prebendary of Ossory. In 1423, he was removed as Archdeacon of Kells, on the ground that he had "unlawfully detained" the office.[1]
Judge
He was appointed Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper, or chief clerk in the Irish Chancery, about 1373, an office he held jointly with Thomas de Everdon. An order in Council stated that they should share the annual fee of £20.[1] In 1408, the Crown granted him an extra allowance (the amount is no longer known) out of the hanaper in consideration of his "great labours" in the King's service. As a judge, he served in a variety of offices over many years. He was appointed Master of the Rolls in 1377 and held that office at regular intervals over the next fifty years, at times jointly with Thomas de Everdon: his final warrant of appointment was granted in 1423, and apparently confirmed him in office for life, with a reversion in favour of his nephew William,[4] although Richard Ashwell had succeeded him as Master of the Rolls by 1427.[2]
Richard Ashwell
Ashwell is recorded as an attorney from 1409. He was a senior clerk in the Chancery from at least 1416, when he and Roger Hawkenshaw, justice of the King's Bench, were ordered to prepare the Chancery writs, due to the Lord Chancellor's frequent absences, and to administer justice in those parts of the kingdom where the King's liege subjects could not repair to the Court of Chancery to prosecute their just causes, due to "the distance and danger of the way".[5] With this record of judicial experience was he highly qualified to be Master of the Rolls.[6] A detailed set of instructions from the Privy Council to Ashwell in 1427 survives, requiring him to examine the records of a lawsuit in the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) "in the time of King Henry IV (1399-1410)", as, many years after the hearing, it was now being alleged that an injustice had been done to the defendant, the Prior of Mullingar.[7]