George Gore (judge)

George Gore (1675-1753) was an Irish landowner and judge: he held office as Attorney General for Ireland and a justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland). Despite his vigorous efforts, he failed to gain further promotion, but his second son John, Lord Annaly, became Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.

He was the second son of Sir Arthur Gore, 1st Baronet of Newtown, County Mayo and his wife Eleanor, daughter of Sir George St George, knight of Carrickdrumrusk. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and the University of Dublin, where he matriculated in 1691 and received a degree of Doctor of Laws in 1709. He entered Middle Temple in 1698 and was called to the Irish Bar in 1700.

He sat in the Irish House of Commons as member for Longford Borough and was made Attorney General in 1714. He accepted a place on the Court of Common Pleas in 1720, apparently due to an asthmatic complaint. Almost at once he began to lobby for the Chief Justiceship of whichever court first became available. He had the support of William King, the influential Archbishop of Dublin who, on the return to England of Sir Jeffrey Gilbert, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer in 1722, wrote to the Government pointing out that death, retirement, illness and overwork had reduced the Irish judiciary to "a pitiful condition" and arguing that Gore would fill the office of Chief Baron well. In the event he was passed over in favour of Sir Bernard Hale, nor despite his best efforts was he ever promoted to the rank of Chief Justice. Elrington Ball believed that the reason for his failure to advance was simply lack of ability: he was much loved by his friends, but none of them praised his judicial qualities. In the 1740s his health failed and he retired in 1745. The retirement itself was a matter of controversy since Gore insisted on being replaced by his nephew Robert French, the son of his sister Anne Gore French; the Government was most unwilling to make this appointment, since French was a poor lawyer and extremely unpopular, but it reluctantly agreed.

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