Gerald Comerford

Gerald Comerford (c.1558–1604; also called Gerard, or Garrett Comerford; ) was an Irish barrister, judge and statesman of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He sat in the House of Commons in the Irish Parliament of 1585–6, and briefly held office as Chief Justice of Munster and as Baron of the Court of Exchequer. Profiting from a close family association with the Earl of Ormond, he rose rapidly to become a trusted servant of the English Crown, and would probably have become a dominant political figure in the south-east of Ireland had it not been for his early death.

He was born at Callan, County Kilkenny, the second son of Fouke (also called Fulco or Fulke) Comerford and his wife Rosina Rothe. His father was in the service of the Earl of Ormonde, acting as both his lawyer and his land agent. The Comerford family from the 1530s onwards became substantial landowners in County Kilkenny, although they suffered serious damage to their property during the Desmond Rebellions. In 1569 it was reported that "old Fulco Comerford of Callan" had been robbed of £2000 (a considerable forrtune at the time), together with silver, household goods, corn and cattle.

Gerald went to school at Kilkenny College. LIke many younger sons in that era, he decided on a legal career and entered the Middle Temple in 1578. In the closing stages of the Second Desmond Rebellion, he was asked by the Crown to negotiate with the rebels, but in attempting to arrange a parley he was attacked and severely wounded. On his return to England he petitioned Elizabeth I successfully for a pension for his services to the Crown and was given leave to retire to Ireland to regain his health. He entered the King's Inns and rose quickly at the Irish Bar through the patronage of Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde, to whom he was always close. In 1584 he was appointed Attorney General for the province of Connacht.

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