William Bathe

Background

William was the elder son of John Bathe, Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas. Little seems to be known about his mother.

Career

He is commemorated by the Wayside Cross (also known as the Dowdall Cross) in Duleek, which was erected by his widow Janet Dowdall. The Bathes were a long established family which settled in County Meath, and had several branches in Meath and others in Dublin: William"s branch of the family lived at Athcarne, near Duleek, which William inherited in about 1559: he built Athcarne Castle (which is now a ruin) in 1590. He also built a bridge nearby.

He entered Lincoln"s Inn in 1557, and was called to the Bar there in 1563.

He returned to Ireland, and was appointed Recorder of Drogheda in 1567. He was a noted authority on the law of municipal corporations.

He became a judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) in 1581. He acted as the judge of assize in Ulster in 1591-1592, but shortly afterwards his health declined seriously: it was said that both his judgment and his memory failed, although he apparently remained on the Bench until his death in 1597.

He was remembered as "a man of much distinction".

She remarried Oliver Plunkett c.1600.

Connections

opponent:

Henry Burnell, William