Richard Power (Monaghan politician)

Richard Power (died 1794) was an Irish politician, barrister and judge of the late eighteenth century. He sat in the Irish House of Commons from 1767 to 1772, and was then appointed a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). He was also Usher and Accountant-General of the Court of Chancery (Ireland). In his capacity as Accountant-General he was accused of illegally enriching himself, and the charge of corruption is believed to have led to his committing suicide in 1794.

Career

He was born in County Tipperary, the son of John Power of Barretstown. He entered the Middle Temple in 1752, was called to the Irish Bar in 1757 and took silk in 1768. He was granted an honorary doctorate of law by the University of Dublin in 1769.

He entered the House of Commons as MP for Monaghan in 1767, and sat as member for Tuam from 1768 to 1772. He was a highly intelligent man and an able pamphleteer; but his manner was eccentric and his speeches in Parliament were often so badly phrased that they provoked derisive laughter from his critics. He became second Baron of the Irish Exchequer in 1772.

Disgrace

His highly successful career came to a tragic end in 1794, as a result of his alleged misconduct as Accountant-General of the Court of Chancery, a post he had been appointed to in 1763, and continued to hold after he became a judge. The position entitled him to have personal charge of all funds lodged in the Court of Chancery in pending lawsuits.

A lengthy case concerning the Chandos family having been concluded, the successful party to the lawsuit claimed the interest on the sum due to him, estimated at £3000, a small fortune at the time. Power declined to pay the interest, saying that the claimant was only entitled to the principal sum, and that he himself was entitled to retain the interest. The claimant appealed to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare. The Chancellor took a serious view of the matter, and ordered Power to appear personally before him to account for his conduct. Power strongly objected to the order, saying that it was beneath his dignity to answer to another judge, particularly one who though technically senior to him in rank had not even been called to the Bar when Power became a judge. The Chancellor was inflexible, and gave Power five days to appear before him. Rumours began to circulate that Power had accumulated his considerable fortune by improperly retaining other funds in a similar fashion.

Suicide

Power had always been eccentric (his opponents in the House of Commons had often accused him of talking in the House like a "Bedlamite" or lunatic), and the fear of disgrace, and of his possible removal from the Bench, was generally believed to have preyed on his mind to the point where he became mentally unstable. A wild rumour circulated that he tried but failed to murder the Lord Chancellor. The story seems to have no foundation, but the fact that it was told at all may be some indication of the state of Power's mental health at the end of his life. He was found drowned in the River Liffey at Irishtown early in 1794. The inquest recorded a verdict of accidental death (thus entitling him to a Christian burial, which was forbidden to a suicide), but no contemporary doubted that it was actually a case of suicide.

Whether by honest means or not he had acquired a large fortune, which passed to his nephew.

Sources

• The Annual Register for the Year 1794
• Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 London John Murray 1926
• Baratariana- a select collection of political pieces 3rd Edition Dublin 1797