Thomas Rochfort

Thomas Rochfort (c.1450-1522) was a distinguished Irish judge and cleric who held the offices of Solicitor General for Ireland, Master of the Rolls in Ireland, and Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

He was born at Killadoon, near Celbridge, County Kildare, the second son of Roger Rochfort, Lord of the Manor of Killadoon, and his wife Catherine Read.^[1] The Rochfort family came to Ireland around 1240; they were descended from Sir Milo de Rochfort, who held lands in Kildare in 1309. Roger's elder brother Robert was the ancestor of another distinguished judge, Robert Rochfort, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer under Queen Anne: their descendants held the title Earl of Belvedere.^[2]

Little is known of Thomas before 1502, when he became Precentor of St. Patrick's Cathedral; he became Dean in 1505.^[3] He was an active and reforming Dean who laid down important new rules on the jurisdiction and discipline of the Cathedral, and it was during his tenure as Dean that the Cathedral College of Minor Canons and Choristers was incorporated.^[4]

He was reputed to be "a man learned in the law":^[5] no doubt for that reason, and rather unusually for a cleric at the time, he became Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) and Solicitor General in 1511. He is first person named as holding the office of Solicitor General, but no conclusions can be drawn from this about the earlier existence of that office, as many of the crucial records have disappeared.^[6] Subsequently he became clerk of the Court of Chancery, and then Master of the Rolls. As often in this period the exact dates he held office are uncertain, but he was certainly still Master in 1520, but was superseded the following year. He remained Dean of St. Patrick's until his death in June 1522.^[7]

Hart^[8] describes Rochfort's judicial career as unique in his lifetime, as he was the only cleric of his generation who held any judicial office other than that of Lord Chancellor of Ireland.

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