Thomas Coote (Irish politician)

The Honourable Thomas Coote (c. 1655–1741) was an Irish politician and judge, who sat in the Irish House of Commons and held judicial office as Recorder of Dublin and as a judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland). Although universally liked and respected, he was removed from the Bench in 1714, and resumed his political career. He was the grandfather of the Earl of Bellomont (third creation), and a noted bibliophile.

He was the third son of Richard Coote, 1st Baron Coote and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir George St. George. Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont (second creation), a somewhat controversial governor of New York and Massachusetts , was his eldest brother; Richard was born in 1636, but Thomas, who outlived him by forty years, is thought to have been much younger. He was the heir of his uncle, also Thomas Coote, of Cootehill, County Cavan. Thomas was "bred to the law": he entered Middle Temple in 1683, returned to Ireland in 1684 to practice at the Irish Bar, and entered the King's Inns the same year.

Like his brother Richard, Thomas was a strong supporter of the Glorious Revolution. After King James II who had been deposed by the Revolution, landed in Ireland in 1689, Thomas was attainted by the Patriot Parliament and his property was forfeited. He moved to England and apparently thought of settling there permanently; but in 1690, following the downfall of King James's cause at the Battle of the Boyne, he returned to Ireland. He became Recorder of Dublin later the same year and entered Parliament as member for Dublin in 1692. In 1693 he was appointed to the Court of King's Bench. In 1697 he was Commissioner of the Great Seal of Ireland.

...
Wikipedia