Patrick Bermingham

Patrick Bermingham (c. 1460–1532) was an Irish judge and statesman of the Tudor period who held the offices of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland and Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland. He was a firm supporter of English rule in Ireland and enjoyed the confidence of Henry VIII, who saw him as a vital mainstay of his Irish administration.

He was born in Corbally, County Meath, to the Meath branch of the leading Anglo-Irish dynasty of Bermingham which was founded by Meyler de Bermingham about 1270. Patrick's grandfather, a member of the Carbury branch of the family, settled in Meath where he acquired by marriage estates at Dardistown; the family also acquired lands at Johnstown, County Kildare. Not much seems to be known of Patrick's own parents, except that they had another son, John, who was the elder. Patrick, as a younger son, chose the law as his profession, following in the steps of his cousin Philip Bermingham, who was Lord Chief Justice of Ireland in the 1480s. He entered Lincoln's Inn in 1478. On the death of his elder brother John in 1483, he inherited the family estates. He resided in England for some years but returned to Ireland before 1503.

He became a clerk in the Court of Exchequer (Ireland); from this relatively junior position he rose quickly to the office of Lord Chief Justice in 1513. For the next twenty years Irish politics was dominated by the struggle between the 9th Earl of Kildare, who succeeded to his father's title in that year, and his opponents; Elrington Ball states that Bermingham was one of the few public figures who remained above partisan politics, his sole aim being to maintain good order. This is borne out by the favourable account of Bermingham's conduct given by the Lord Deputy of Ireland, the Duke of Norfolk, who spent the years 1520–21 putting down an insurrection which he suspected possibly with good reason, had been instigated by the Earl of Kildare. Norfolk praised Bermingham and Patrick Finglas, the Lord Chief Baron, as "the best willed and most diligent to do the King's Grace true and faithful service of all the learned men of this land". Bermingham was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, made a member of the Privy Council, and as a mark of special favour was given a fresh patent as Lord Chief Justice under the Great Seal of England. As another mark of Royal favour, he was given permission to leave Ireland whenever he wished: this was a significant privilege at a time when the movements of Irish officials were carefully watched, and any foreign travel, even into England, required leave from the Crown.

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