Richard Power

Richard Power (–1794) was an Irish politician, barrister and judge of the late eighteenth century. He sat in the Irish House of Commons from 1767 to 1772, and was then appointed a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). He was also Usher and Accountant-General of the Court of Chancery (Ireland). In his role as Accountant-General, he was accused of illegally enriching himself, and the resulting charge of corruption led to his death by suicide in 1794. Career He was born in County Tipperary in about 1733, one of the three sons of John Power of Barretstown and Elizabeth Congreve, daughter of the Reverend John Congreve of Kilmacow, County Kilkenny and Rebecca Jones, and granddaughter of the Cromwellian army officer and politician Oliver Jones MP. He entered the Middle Temple in 1752, was called to the Irish Bar in 1757 and took silk in 1768. He was granted an honorary doctorate of law by the University of Dublin in 1769. He entered the House of Commons as MP for Monaghan in 1767, and sat as MP for Tuam from 1768 to 1772. He was a highly intelligent man and an able pamphleteer, but his manner was notably eccentric. His speeches in Parliament were often so emotional and so badly phrased that they provoked derisive laughter from his critics. His theatrical manner led the wits to nickname him "Don Riccardo". He was described as "morose, very learned, rich and ostentatious". He became second Baron of the Irish Court of Exchequer in 1772.