Charles Burton

Charles Burton (1760–1847) was an English-born barrister and judge who spent most of his professional career in Ireland.

Early life

He was born at Aynho in Northamptonshire, second son of Francis Burton and Anna Singer. The Burton family were originally from Leicestershire. His brother Edmund, a solicitor who practised in Daventry, had several children, including Sir William Westbrooke Burton (1794–1888), a judge and statesman in Australia, whose second wife was Charles' granddaughter Maria Alphonsine West. He entered Middle Temple, and subsequently Lincoln's Inn. Ball states that he was never called to the English Bar, although he practised as an attorney in the King's Bench. He was befriended by the leading Irish barrister John Philpot Curran, who persuaded him that his future lay in Ireland. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1792 and took silk in 1806.

Career

He was a man of great erudition, who was described, no doubt with some exaggeration, as the most learned man ever to practice at the Irish Bar. He was also an exceptionally hard worker, and above all a superb advocate. He made his reputation with his speech for the defendant, which was described as "a masterpiece of eloquence", in the leading quo warranto case, R. v. Waller O'Grady, in 1816, where the Crown challenged the right of Standish O'Grady, 1st Viscount Guillamore, the Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer to appoint his younger son as a Court clerk.

Judicial career

His most memorable trial was that of Daniel O'Connell for conspiracy in 1844: while there were several judges on the Court, it was Burton who passed the sentence of imprisonment, which was later quashed by the House of Lords. However one obituary of the judge maintained that O'Connell, in general, a stern critic of the Irish judiciary, actually admired Burton. Burton was also described as a judge who was entirely free of party political bias.

Just as Curran had been his mentor, so Burton acted as mentor to the young Gerald Fitzgibbon, encouraging him to pursue a legal career, and thus helping to found one of Ireland's most remarkable legal dynasties.

He was a member of the Royal Dublin Society, and renowned for his classical learning. who in 1819 married John Beattie West, MP for Dublin,