Nicholas Sutton was an Irish judge who held the offices of Attorney General for Ireland and Baron of the Court of Exchequer.
Background
His career demonstrates how small the Irish legal world was at the time: his father held the same two offices, while his widow married his successor on the Court of Exchequer. He was born in Dublin, probably at Saint Werburgh"s Street, where the Suttons had a town house, and where he was buried.
Career
His will, which no longer exists, has been described as being full of "curious details". His father was William Sutton, who was Attorney General in about 1444 and then for many years a Baron of the Exchequer. His mother was Alison Darby.
He was Attorney General in 1473, and is recorded as being a Baron of the Exchequer in 1478: possibly he replaced his father who retired the previous year.
Nicholas however died almost at once, two years before his father, and was buried in Saint Werburgh"s Church, Dublin. Elrington Ball states that his will, which Ball had seen but which no longer survives, showed evidence of extraordianary religious fervour, even by the standards of the age: he called himself a "clerk", which was the normal contemporary term for a celibate clergyman, and surely an unusual way for a married man to describe himself.
Should he have no other heirs, his lands were to be divided between Street Werburgh"s and Saint Mary"s Abbey, Dublin. He left a legacy to his father, William, in return for his blessing, and numerous legacies to religious houses.
Membership
A year after his death, Anne remarried his successor on the Court of Exchequer, Patrick Burnell, a member of the well-known Burnell family which produced a number of leading judges and politicians.