Background
He was born about 1435, eldest son of Christopher Street Lawrence, 2nd Baron Howth. There is some dispute about the identity of his mother: some sources name her as Anne Plunkett, others as Elizabeth Bermingham.
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Robert Street Lawrence
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He succeeded to the title in 1464 or 1465. O"Flanagan calls him "a nobleman of considerable abilities, who filled several offices connected with the Government of Ireland."
He was High Sheriff of County Dublin in 1456, Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland in 1478 and Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland). In 1483 Richard III chose him to be Lord Chancellor of Ireland, despite opposition from Gerald Fitzgerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, who was then almost all-powerful in Ireland.
In any event his tenure as Lord Chancellor was short, ending either with his removal or his death later in 1483, although some sources place his death as late as 1487.
In 1478 he made a second and politically significant marriage to Joan Beaufort, daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset. The Saint Lawrence family, unlike most of the Anglo-Irish nobility, were reliable supporters of the Tudor dynasty.
He had six children:
Nicholas Street Lawrence, 4th Baron Howth
Thomas Saint Lawrence, who became Attorney General for Ireland
two other sons, Walter and Christopher
two daughters, Genet, who married Thomas Fitzsimons, and Anne, who married William Golding. Joan remarried Sir Richard Fry and died in 1518.
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In 1474 he was chosen to be one of the thirteen Knights of the Brotherhood of Saint George, who were charged with defending the Pale against invasion by neighbouring Gaelic clans, and more generally with keeping the peace.
