Thomas Bowring

Thomas Bowring (c.1440-1504) was an English-born lawyer and judge in fifteenth-century Ireland, who held office as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.

He belonged to a prominent landowning family in Devon, who gave their name to the manor of Bowringsleigh. His main estate was at nearby West Alvington, and he also acquired lands in Somerset and Gloucestershire.

He was a member of the Middle Temple, and had the reputation of being a fine lawyer. He served as a commissioner for the peace in his native county between 1481 and 1487.

In 1494 the temporary downfall of Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, who had since the late 1470s been almost all-powerful in Ireland, led to the dismissal en masse of the Irish-born High Court judges, who were regarded by the Crown as being merely Kildare's creatures. They were replaced by eminent English lawyers, in whose loyalty the English Crown believed that it could place its trust. Bowring was sent to Ireland as Lord Chief Justice; two years later he exchanged this for the normally less onerous office of Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.

Soon afterwards, the Earl of Kildare was restored to favour and was once more allowed to have his "own men" appointed to judicial office. Bowring resigned from the Irish Bench and returned to Devon, where he continued to serve in various official capacities until his death in 1504.

He was married twice, and by his first wife had three children:

• Robert (died 1514), MP for Plymouth;
• Ralph, who inherited the family estates after the death of Robert's only daughter;
• Alice, who married William Pyke.

He married secondly Agnes Kelloway, widow of Thomas Pomeroy of Berry Pomeroy; she died in 1518.

References

• Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926
• Bindoff, S. T. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 1982