William Rokeby

William Rokeby (died 1521) was a leading statesman and cleric in early sixteenth-century Ireland, who held the offices of Bishop of Meath, Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He is commemorated in the Rokeby Chapels in two Yorkshire churches, St Oswald's Church, Kirk Sandall, and Halifax Minster.

He was born at Kirk Sandall, near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, eldest of the five sons of John Rokeby (died 1506 ). His younger brother Richard was Comptroller of the Household to Cardinal Wolsey and later Treasurer of Ireland. William retained a deep affection for Kirk Sandall and returned there to die. He went to school at Rotherham; studied at Oxford and became a fellow of King's Hall, later Trinity College, Cambridge. He became vicar of his home parish in 1487, and was transferred to Halifax, another town for which he had a deep attachment, c. 1499. In 1507 he was made Bishop of Meath.

On the death of Walter Fitzsimon in 1511, Rokeby became Archbishop of Dublin. He was Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1512 to 1513 and from 1516 to 1522.

O'Flanagan believes that he was a good and diligent Lord Chancellor, although he did not produce many recorded judgments. He was clearly a trusted servant of the Crown: in particular the Lord Deputy, Surrey, with the approval of Henry VIII, chose Rokeby in 1520 as mediator in the feud, which had become almost uncontrollable, between Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Desmond and Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond.

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