John Lyndon

Sir John Lyndon (c.1630-1699) was an Irish judge and politician of the seventeenth century. He was the first holder of the office of Third Serjeant-at-law, which was created especially for him, supposedly as a form of "consolation prize" for not being made a High Court judge the first time he applied for the office.

He was born in Carrickfergus, son of Captain Roger Lyndon, Collector of Customs for the town, and his wife Jane Marten. The Lyndons were a prominent Carrickfergus family which settled in Ireland in the 1590s, though John's own descendants were very much associated with Dublin. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1657. He was appointed Recorder of Carrickfergus and entered the King's Inn in 1663. He was seneschal of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. He sat in the Irish House of Commons as MP for Killybegs in the sole Irish Parliament of the reign of Charles II.

The office of Third Serjeant was created especially for him in 1682: this was regarded as a "consolation prize" for his failure to secure a place on the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland). The situation became somewhat farcical when the office of Second Serjeant was given to William Beckett: both Lyndon and Sir Richard Ryves, the Recorder of Dublin, claimed that it had been promised to them. Ormonde, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, took a keen interest in judicial appointments, but he did not regard the Serjeant-at-law as an office of much importance (probably to his deep distrust of Sir Audley Mervyn, who had been the Prime Serjeant in the 1660s), and he frankly admitted that when he appointed Beckett as Serjeant he had forgotten that Lyndon had already received his patent of appointment to the same office. A compromise arrangement was reached by which Beckett remained Second Serjeant, although he died only a few months later. Ryves was promised, and received, the next vacant Serjeantship, and Lyndon was promised the next vacant seat on the High Court bench. The desire to conciliate Lyndon suggests that he was highly regarded by Ormonde, who was noted for loyalty to his friends.

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