James Hewitt, 1st Viscount Lifford

The Right Honourable The Viscount Lifford PC (Ire)
Lord Lifford.
Lord Chancellor of Ireland
In office 24 November 1767 – 28 April 1789
Monarch	George III
Preceded by	The Lord Bowes
Succeeded by	John FitzGibbon
Member of Parliament for Coventry
In office 1761–1766 Serving with Hon. Andrew Archer
Preceded by	William Grove Samuel Greatheed
Succeeded by	Hon. Henry Seymour-Conway Hon. Andrew Archer
Personal details
Born	1712
Died	1789 (aged 77)
Domestic partner	Mary Rhys Williams (m.1749, d.1765) Ambrosia Bayley (m.1766)
Profession	Lawyer, Politician
Religion	Church of Ireland

James Hewitt, 1st Viscount Lifford (28 April 1712 – 28 April 1789) was an Anglo-Irish lawyer and judge. He served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1767 to 1789.

Hewitt was the son of a Coventry draper, William Hewitt (1683–1747), who was born in Rockcliffe, Cumberland, the son of James Hewitt and Mary Urwin. His mother was Hannah Lewis. His brother, William Hewitt (1719–1781), was governor of the West Indies, a position he obtained throgh his brother's influence with the Government. In a class-conscious age, his background was something of a handicap, and his "small-town" manners were the subject of unkind comment throughout his life.

Hewitt first worked as an attorney's clerk. By 1742, he had become a barrister. Rising quickly through the legal profession, his career climaxed when he was made Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1767, a post he held until his death in 1789. He was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Lifford, of Lifford in the County of Donegal, in 1768, and was further honoured when he was made Viscount Lifford in 1781, also in the Irish peerage.

He was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Coventry for 1761 to 1766. He was not highly regarded as a Parliamentarian: his fellow MPs complained that his speeches were almost inaudible.

Lifford made his reputation as Lord Chancellor of Ireland: he had until then had the name of being a "dull, heavy lawyer", an uninspiring though "safe" MP, and a man of mediocre intelligence who was painfully conscious of his rather humble origins. Even the Government which chose him was rather doubtful that he had the necessary strength of character to be an effective Chancellor, while the English Bench reacted to his appointment with general ridicule.

They were quickly proved wrong: witihin two years of his arrival in Ireland Lifford was earning the highest praises as a judge. As his colleague in the Irish Government John Hely-Hutchinson (not a man normally given to speaking well of others) wrote to a friend-

...
Wikipedia