Robert Cowley

Robert Cowley, or Colley (c. 1470–1546) was an English-born judge in sixteenth-century Ireland who held the office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland. He is chiefly remembered as a possible ancestor of the 1st Duke of Wellington. Early life Despite his family's later eminence, Robert's background is obscure and his early life is poorly recorded. He is the father of Walter Cowley of Glaston in Rutland; the Colley/Cowley family is recorded there from about 1400. Robert is said to have seen military service with Garret Mor, the "Great" Earl of Kildare, but the first definite trace of him is when he entered Lincoln's Inn in 1502. He then decided on a business career abt 1505 with his sons Walter & Robert (Jr), and moved to Dublin where he became a successful merchant. He was made Bailiff of Dublin in 1515. Political and judicial career From about 1520 Cowley played an increasing role in Irish politics. He was in the retinue of the Earl of Surrey when he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1522 when Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond replaced Surrey as Lieutenant, Cowley became his legal adviser and Clerk to the Council in 1525; thereafter the Cowley family were regarded as strong Ormond partisans. Robert also sought to gain influence by becoming a regular correspondent of Cardinal Wolsey and later of Thomas Cromwell. His devices for Ireland in 1537 suggested to Cromwell that all "All Irish on this side Shannon to be prosecuted, subdued, and exiled;". James Bathe, later Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer and a trusted Crown servant for thirty years, faced Cowley's hostility from early in his career. In 1525 Bathe, then a very young lawyer, presented the English Government with a book setting out his proposals for reform of the Irish administration: Cowley ridiculed it, writing to Wolsey that Bathe knew as much about the government of Ireland as Cowley did about that of Italy. Feud with Patrick Barnewall In the 1530s Robert and his brother Walter Cowley engaged in a power struggle with Patrick Barnewall, the Irish Solicitor General, who also had considerable influence with Cromwell. The Cowleys, who had the reputation for being entirely unscrupulous in advancing their careers, kept up a flow of letters to Cromwell attempting to undermine Barnewall. They alleged that Barnewall had challenged the King's authority in religious matters, a very serious charge in the political climate of the time.