John Bathe (died 1586)

John Bathe (1536-1586) was an Irish lawyer and statesman of the sixteenth century. He held several important offices, including that of Attorney General for Ireland and Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland. He was member of a prominent landowning family in County Dublin, and himself added to the family estates. His children included the Jesuit William Bathe, a noted musicologist.

He was the only son of James Bathe, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer (died 1570) and his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Burnell of Balgriffin, and widow of Robert Barnewall of Drimnagh. Despite some suspicions about his loyalty during the Rebellion of Silken Thomas, the elder Bathe became a much-trusted servant of the English Crown who held high judicial office for 30 years. Like his son he adhered publicly to the Church of Ireland but was generally believed to be a Roman Catholic at heart.

James Bathe was born to a junior branch of a long-established County Meath family (others branches were settled at Kingstown and Athcarne). James became a major landowner in Dublin; he held Drimnagh Castle by right of his father's marriage to the previous owner's widow, and began the building of Drumcondra Castle, which his son completed. Drumcondra House, which is now part of All Hallows College, is located on the site of the old Castle, and a tablet survives there referring to John Bathe and his first wife Eleanor Preston as the builders of the Castle.

John was at Lincoln's Inn in 1560 and was called to the Bar there. He had some difficulty at first in building up a good legal practice, but from the late 1560s onward his career advanced rapidly: he became Principal Solicitor for Ireland in 1570 and Attorney-General for Ireland in 1574. His career suffered a check when the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Henry Sidney, asked for the appointment of unquestionably Protestant judges and law officers: Bathe, who was well known to incline privately to Catholicism, was removed from office. This was only a temporary setback and the following year he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, an office which he held until his death.

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