Bernard Hale

Sir Bernard Hale (1677–1729) was an English-born barrister and judge who became Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. Two of his sons became Generals in the British Army.

Background He was born at King's Walden, Hertfordshire, the eighth son of William Hale and his wife Mary Elwes, daughter of Jeremy (Jeremiah) Elwes of Roxby, Lincolnshire. The Hale family, who made a fortune as grocers in London, had owned their estate in King's Walden since the sixteenth century, and Bernard's own descendants were still living there in Victorian times. Bernard's grand-uncle, also called Bernard Hale, was Archdeacon of Ely 1660–1663.

The judge's sister Catherine Hoskins (1673-1703) was the mother of Catherine Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. Another sister Mary Plumer was the mother of the long-serving MP William Plumer.

Bernard was educated at Eton College and Peterhouse, Cambridge, where his grand-uncle Bernard had been Master in the 1660s, matriculating at Peterhouse in 1695, graduating B.A. in 1699 and M.A. in 1702: he subsequently became a fellow of Peterhouse. He entered Gray's Inn in 1699, and was called to the Bar in 1705. He became one of the leaders of the English Bar, and was one of its top earners. He later transferred to Lincoln's Inn, and was briefly one of its Benchers. William Hale (died 1793), who married Elizabeth Farnaby, daughter of Sir Charles Farnaby, 1st Baronet. They had four children, including Anne, wife of Sir Edward Dering, 7th Baronet, and William, husband of the Hon. Mary Grimston, daughter of James Grimston, 2nd Viscount Grimston and Mary Bucknall;