William Johnson (Irish politician)

William Johnson (1760-1845) was an Irish politician, law officer and judge of the early nineteenth century. He sat in the Irish House of Commons, served as Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) and was a justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland).[1]

He was born in Dublin, probably at Fishamble Street, the fifth son of Thomas Johnson, an apothecary who in later life qualified as a physician. [1] Thomas was described as a "good, orthodox, hard-praying Protestant", but rather self-conscious about his relatively humble origins. William's eldest brother was Robert Johnson (1745-1833), who had a very similar career to William, being an MP and a justice of the Court of Common Pleas;[1] but Robert's career was destroyed in 1805 when he was convicted of seditious libel and forced to resign from the Bench, for having written a number of anonymous letters attacking the Government. Robert's disgrace in turn adversely affected William's career, and he had to wait long years before his own elevation to the Bench.[2]The two brothers married sisters, daughters of John Evans of Dublin, and both had issue.[1]

William was educated at the University of Dublin, where he graduated Bachelor of Laws in 1784, and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1782.[1]He was called to the Irish Bar in 1784, and became King's Counsel in 1808.[3] He became Third Serjeant in 1813, Second Serjeant in 1814 and First Serjeant in 1816.[3]

His political career was rather brief: he entered the Commons as member for Roscommon in 1799, but his career in Parliament ended with the Act of Union 1801, which he actively supported.[1]He was appointed justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1817, and served until 1841. [3]It was generally agreed that his appointment would have come much sooner but for his brother's disgrace. [4]He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy. [1] Unlike most judges of the time he did not have a country "place", preferring to live entirely in Dublin city. He died at Dun Laoghaire in 1845.[1]

He was regarded as a much abler lawyer than his brother, and was generally respected, although critics said that he could be arrogant, morose and bad-tempered. The statesman Henry Grattan, who knew the family well, wrote that while William had his faults, he had never forgotten his great kindness to him when Grattan was seriously ill.[5]