Richard Cherry

Richard Robert Cherry PC, QC (19 March 1859 – 10 February 1923 ) was an Irish politician and judge. He was Attorney-General for Ireland from 1905 to 1909, a judge of the Irish Court of Appeal and Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland 1913–1916. A Liberal, he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Exchange in 1906. Cherry published works include Lectures on the Growth of Criminal Law in Ancient Communities, 1890, and a book on the Irish Land Acts which was described as an indispensable part of every Irish barrister's library. He was president of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland between 1908 and 1911.

Cherry was born in Waterford, the second son of Robert William Cherry, a solicitor; the family was of French Huguenot origin. He was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, where he had been auditor of the College Historical Society and secretary of the University Philosophical Society.

In 1889 Cherry became Reid Professor of Criminal and Constitutional Law at Trinity College Dublin, and published two books on criminal law. He was called to the Bar in 1881 and became Queen's Counsel in 1896. His promising career was according to his family damaged by his staunch opposition to the Boer War, although this did not prevent his appointment as Attorney General for Ireland in 1905 or his election to the House of Commons the following year. His elevation to the Bench in 1909 was said to be due to his desire to be relieved from the extreme pressure of his work as a Law Officer; possibly he was already suffering from ill-health, although it was not until some years later that he was diagnosed with what was described as "slow paralysis". His illness did not prevent his promotion to Lord Chief Justice; however he served only three years, retiring it appears partly through ill-health and partly because the Government was very anxious to promote James Campbell to the Chief Justice's office. After the Easter Rising he served briefly as Lord Justice of Ireland, entrusted with emergency powers of government.

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