This is a list (presently incomplete) of lawyers who held the rank of serjeant-at-law at the Irish Bar.
The first recorded serjeant was Roger Owen, who was appointed c.1261, although the name serjeant itself is not recorded in Ireland until 1388. In the early years of the office an appointment as serjeant might be temporary, or might cover only a part of the country.
In contrast to England, for many years there was only one Serjeant-at-Law in Ireland, who was known as the King’s Serjeant or simply Serjeant. In 1627 another was appointed, and they were known as the Prime Serjeant and Second Serjeant. In 1682 a Third Serjeant was appointed. In 1805 the Prime Serjeant became known as First Serjeant.
Until the nineteenth century at least the need for three serjeants was often questioned: it was pointed out that the office of Third Serjeant in particular was often left vacant for years. It has been stated that Third Serjeant was created simply as a consolation prize for Sir John Lyndon, the first holder of the office, who had been passed over as both a High Court judge and as Second Serjeant, and that no particular duties attached to the Third Serjeant. Certainly Sir Richard Ryves, the Recorder of Dublin, was able to combine that notoriously gruelling office with that of Third, and later Second Serjeant, which suggests that he was not greatly troubled with work in his role as Serjeant. Alan Brodrick, 1st Viscount Midleton, who was removed from his office as Third Serjeant in 1692, complained of his dismissal, but admitted that in his two years in the office he had had almost no work to do.
The position was extremely lucrative. Although in theory the salary in the 1690s was fixed at £30 a year, it was well known that in practice the various perquisites attached to the office brought it up to between £900 and £1000 a year, apart from the serjeant's right to continue to take fees from private clients.
The serjeants-at-law ranked ahead of the Attorney-General for Ireland and the Solicitor-General for Ireland until 1805, when the law officers took precedence. From about 1660 onwards they were expected to consult with the Attorney General, and were discouraged from acting on their own initiative: in 1692 the Prime Serjeant, John Osborne, was dismissed for repeatedly acting in opposition to Crown policy. From the 1560s on the serjeants acted as "messengers" to the Irish House of Commons i.e. they were summoned to advise the House on points of law, just as the High Court judges advised the Irish House of Lords. The role of messenger seems to have lapsed around 1740.
No serjeants were appointed after 1919 and on the establishment of the Irish Free State the rank ceased to exist. The last surviving serjeant, Alexander Sullivan, moved to England where he practiced at the English Bar, and as a mark of courtesy was always addressed as Serjeant Sullivan.
1261 Roger Owen
1270 Robert of St. Edmund
1281 John Fitzwilliam
1292 John de Ponz
1293 John de Neville
1297: William of Bardfield
1297: Richard le Blond
1310: Matthew of Harwood
1319: John of Staines
12 February 1326: Simon Fitz-Richard
29 September 1327 John of Cardiff
29 September 1327 John Gernoun
1331 Thomas de Dent
3 December 1341: Hugh Brown
1 June 1343: William le Petit
1348: Robert Preston, later Lord Gormanston
1356: John Keppock
1358 Richard White
19 November 1357: Edmund de Bereford
1373/4: John Tirel
18 April 1375: Richard Plunkett
1375: Walter Cotterell
12 June 1377 Roger L'Enfant
1383: Peter Rowe
1386: Richard Glynon
24 September 1388: John Bermyngham
1392: James Haire
1393: Nicholas White
1406: James Uriell
20 October 1422: Christopher Bernevall
8 November 1434: Sir Thomas Fitz-Christopher Plunket
20 June 1435: Robert Dowdall
4 February 1437: Edward Somerton
24 June 1447 : Thomas Snetterby
1460: Peter Trevers
1462: Thomas Dowdall
1463: Philip Bermingham
1471 Henry Duffe
1477 John Estrete
1496 Thomas Kent
1501 John Egyr
1504 John Barnewall, 3rd Baron Trimlestown
1506 Clement Fitzleones
1509 Patrick Finglas
1511 Thomas Rochfort
1516 Thomas Fitzsimons
1520 Robert Barnewall
1532: Sir Thomas Luttrell
1534: Patrick Barnewall
1550: Sir John Bathe
11 September 1554: Richard Finglas
21 February 1574: Edward Fitz-Symon
9 May 1594: Arthur Corye
1 November 1597: Edward Loftus
8 June 1601: Edward Kerdiffe
9 February 1609: Sir John Beere
13 May 1617: Sir John Brereton
23 May 1627: Sir John Brereton
6 October 1629: James Barry
August 1634: Sir Maurice Eustace
20 September 1660: Sir Audley Mervyn
26 October 1675: Sir William Davys
by 1680: John Osborne (succeeded under a patent of reversion dated 29 August 1676; deprived 1686)
15 February 1687: Garrett Dillon
29 September 1690: John Osborne (restored)
29 December 1692: Nehemiah Donnellan
5 November 1695: Sir Thomas Pakenham
1 December 1703: Robert Saunders
28 February 1708: William Neave
8 December 1714: William Caulfeild
11 August 1711: Robert Blennerhassett
9 February 1712: Morley Saunders
13 June 1715: Godfrey Boate
23 June 1716: Robert Fitzgerald
26 January 1724: Francis Bernard
22 June 1726: Henry Singleton
14 January 1742: Arthur Blennerhassett
9 May 1743: Anthony Malone
24 January 1754: Eaton Stannard
6 October 1757: William Scott
27 July 1759: Thomas Tennison
11 December 1761: John Hely-Hutchinson
18 July 1774: James Dennis
24 July 1777: Walter Hussey Burgh
14 June 1780: James Browne
1 June 1782: Walter Hussey Burgh (again)
13 July 1782: Thomas Kelly
31 December 1783: John Scott
21 May 1784: James Browne (again)
21 June 1787: James Fitzgerald
28 January 1799: St George Daly
1 July 1801: Edmund Stanley
29 December 1802: Arthur Browne
25 July 1805: Arthur Moore
25 July 1816: William Johnson
28 October 1817: Henry Joy
13 May 1822: Thomas Lefroy
April 1830: Thomas Goold
February 1832: Edward Pennefather
23 May 1835: Richard Wilson Greene
November 1842: Joseph Stock
June 1851: John Howley
27 February 1866: Richard Armstrong
25 October 1880: David Sherlock
20 May 1884: James Robinson
19 July 1885: Charles Hare Hemphill
17 November 1892: William Bennet Campion
5 December 1907 : Charles Andrew O'Connor
14 January 1910 : John Francis Moriarty
5 July 1913: Charles Louis Matheson
29 October 1919: Alexander Martin Sullivan - the last Irish serjeant
23 May 1627: Sir Nathaniel Catelyn
14 April 1637: Sir Maurice Eustace
4 March 1661: Sir William Sambach
6 April 1670: Robert Griffith
10 May 1673: Henry Hene
26 May 1674: Sir Richard Reynell, 1st Baronet
7 April 1680: Sir Richard Stephens (dismissed 1682)
24 October 1682: William Beckett
7 August 1683: Sir Richard Ryves (removed)
May 1687: Sir Henry Echlin
14 November 1690: Sir Richard Stephens (restored)
5 January 1691: Sir Richard Ryves (restored)
8 February 1692: Sir Thomas Pakenham
13 January 1696: William Neave
1 December 1708: William Caulfeild (resigned)
14 August 1711: Morley Saunders
12 February 1712: John Cliffe
18 December 1714: Robert Fitzgerald
23 August 1716: John Witherington
23 December 1718: William Brodrick
5 January 1728: Robert Dixon
29 April 1731: Richard Bettesworth
31 March 1741: Robert Marshall
25 November 1757: Richard Malone
10 September 1759: Edmund Malone
14 January 1767: James Dennis
19 July 1774: Maurice Coppinger
5 November 1777: Hugh Carleton
8 May 1779: Attiwell Wood
8 April 1784: James Fitzgerald
27 June 1787: John Toler
17 August 1789: Joseph Hewett
30 July 1791: Henry Duquerry
10 December 1793: Sir James Chatterton, 1st Baronet
23 April 1806: John Ball
3 December 1813: William MacMahon
4 March 1814: William Johnson
26 July 1816: Henry Joy
29 October 1817: Richard Jebb
1 December 1818: Chales Burton
3 December 1820: Thomas Lefroy
13 May 1822: John Lloyd
19 April 1830: Francis Blackburne
18 January 1831: Edward Pennefather
13 February 1832: Michael O'Loghlen
27 January 1835: Joseph Devonshire Jackson
November 1841: Joseph Stock
November 1842: Richard Benson Warren
July 1848: John Howley
June 1851: James O'Brien
5 February 1858: Walter Berwick
1859: Gerald Fitzgibbon
25 February 1860: James Anthony Lawson
21 February 1861: Edward Sullivan
18 February 1865: Richard Armstrong
24 February 1866: Sir Colman O'Loghlen, Bt
29 November 1877: David Sherlock
25 October 1880: James Robinson
20 May 1884: Charles Hare Hemphill
19 July 1885: Peter O'Brien
14 July 1887: William Bennett Campion
17 November 1892: Hewitt Poole Jellett
18 July 1911: Ignatius O'Brien, 1st Baron Shandon
9 December 1911: Thomas Molony
20 July 1912: Charles Louis Matheson
5 July 1913: Alexander Martin Sullivan
229 October 1919: George McSweeney
24 July 1682: Sir John Lyndon
19 February 1683: Sir Richard Ryves
3 August 1683: Sir Henry Echlin
6 May 1687: Sir John Barnewall
March 1688: Sir Theobald Butler
5 January 1691: Alan Brodrick
29 November 1711: John Cliffe
25 February 1712: John Staunton
14 December 1714: John Witherington
28 March 1726: Robert Jocelyn
4 May 1727: John Bowes
October 1730: Henry Purdon
18 April 1737: Robert Marshall
21 January 1742: Philip Tisdall
28 October 1751: Richard Malone
24 November 1757: Marcus Paterson
10 October 1764: James Dennis
15 January 1767: Godfrey Lill
12 July 1770: Maurice Coppinger
20 July 1774: George Hamilton
15 May 1776: Hugh Carleton
6 November 1777: Attiwell Wood
8 May 1779: James Fitzgerald
25 July 1782: Peter Metge
15 January 1784: John Toler
27 June 1787: Joseph Hewett
17 August 1789: Henry Duquerry
30 July 1791: James Chatterton
10 December 1793: Edmund Stanley
30 October 1801: Arthur Moore
25 July 1805: Charles Kendal Bushe
25 October 1805: John Ball
23 April 1806: William MacMahon
4 December 1813: William Johnson
19 March 1814: Henry Joy
27 July 1816: Rivhard Jebb
30 October 1817: Charles Burton
1 December 1818: Thomas Lefroy
13 February 1821: Thomas B. Vandeleur
13 May 1822: Robert Torrens
13 July 1823: Thomas Goold
April 1830: Edward Pennefather
18 January 1831: Michael O'Loghlen
7 February 1832: Louis Perrin
23 May 1835: Stephen Woulfe
10 November 1836: Nicholas Ball
20 July 1838: William Curry
May 1840: Richard Moore
August 1840: Joseph Stock
November 1841: Richard B. Warren
November 1842: Richard Keating
September 1843: John Howley
July 1848: James O'Brien
June 1851: Jonathan Christian
1855: Walter Berwick
5 February 1858: Rickard Deasy
1859: Gerald Fitzgibbon
1859: Thomas O'Hagan
24 October 1860: Edward Sullivan
21 February 1861: Richard Armstrong
18 February 1865: Sir Colman O'Loghlen, Bt
24 February 1866: Charles Robert Barry
12 January 1867: Richard Dowse
11 March 1870: David Sherlock
29 November 1877: James Robinson
25 October 1880: Denis Caulfield Heron
30 May 1881: John O'Hagan
13 September 1881: Charles Hare Hemphill
26 May 1884: Peter O'Brien
18 July 1885: John George Gibson
5 December 1885: William Bennett Campion
14 July 1887: Dodgson Hamilton Madden
14 February 1888: Hewitt Poole Jellett
17 November 1892: William Huston Dodd
23 March 1907: Charles Andrew O'Connor
5 December 1907: Matthew Bourke
5 June 1909 : John Francis Moriarty
14 January 1910: Ignatius O'Brien, 1st Baron Shandon
18 May 1911 : Thomas Molony
8 December 1911: Charles Louis Matheson
20 July 1912: Alexander Martin Sullivan
5 July 1913: George McSweeney
29 October 1919: Henry Hanna
