The Right Honourable The Lord Glenavy PC |
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Lord Chancellor of Ireland | |
In office 1918–1921 |
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Monarch | George V |
Preceded by | Sir Ignatius O'Brien |
Succeeded by | John Ross |
Lord Chief Justice of Ireland | |
In office 1917–1918 |
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Preceded by | Richard Cherry |
Succeeded by | Thomas Molony |
Attorney-General for Ireland | |
In office 1916–1917 |
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Preceded by | John Gordon |
Succeeded by | James O'Connor |
In office 1905–1905 |
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Preceded by | John Atkinson |
Succeeded by | Richard Cherry |
Solicitor-General for Ireland | |
In office 1903–1905 |
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Preceded by | George Wright |
Succeeded by | Redmond Barry |
Member of Parliament for Dublin University | |
In office 1903–1917 |
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Preceded by | W. E. H. Lecky |
Succeeded by | A. W. Samuels |
Member of Parliament for Dublin St Stephen's Green | |
In office 1898–1900 |
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Preceded by | William Kenny |
Succeeded by | James McCann |
Personal details | |
Born | 4 April 1851 Dublin |
Died | 22 March 1931 (aged 79) Dublin |
Alma mater | Trinity College, Dublin |
James Henry Mussen Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy PC (4 April 1851 – 22 March 1931) was an Irish lawyer, politician in the British Parliament and later in the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State. He was also Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
He was born in Dublin and educated at Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) and Trinity College, Dublin, graduating BA in 1874. After being called to the Irish bar in 1878, Campbell was made an Irish Queen's Counsel in 1892 and six years later was elected Irish Unionist MP for the Dublin seat of St. Stephen's Green. The following year he was called to the English bar, and in February 1902 was elected a Bencher of Gray's Inn. In 1903 was elected to the House of Commons as representative for Dublin University, also becoming Solicitor-General for Ireland that same year. He was made the country's Attorney General in 1905, being appointed an Irish Privy Counsellor, and in 1916 became Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.
Considerable controversy surrounded the efforts to appoint him a judge: the initial proposal to appoint him Lord Chancellor of Ireland met with fierce resistance from Irish Nationalists, and great efforts were made to find another vacancy. It appears Baron Atkinson was asked to retire from the House of Lords but refused. Pressure was then put on the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, Richard Cherry who was seriously ill, to step down. Cherry was initially reluctant but eventually agreed to retire in December 1916.Maurice Healy in his memoirs remarks that Campbell was considered the finest Irish barrister of his time, with the possible exception of Edward Carson; as a judge he was somewhat fretful and impatient.