Gerald Horan

Gerald Horan (3 May 1879 – 9 May 1949) was an Irish barrister and public servant who was the last Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper of the Dublin Castle administration and first Master of the High Court in the Irish Free State.

Early life The son of a solicitor, and when O'Brien became Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Horan became his private secretary, and then Permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor, and Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper, in 1915, when incumbent Joseph Nugent Lentaigne died. Horan gave the old seal to the National Museum of Ireland in January 1926.

On Cornelius Gregg's recommendation, Horan was put in charge of administration of the new state's superior courts. When Horan signed the first proclamation issued by the Governor General, making New Year's Day 1923 a bank holiday, the Lurgan Mail described him as Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper and noted that he was "not dignified by any dscription in the proclamation". When the Courts of Justice Act 1924 reconstituted the court system under the terms of the 1922 constitution, he wrote a guide to the act's operation, and became Master of the new High Court when the post was created in 1926.

Although elections of Irish representative peers stopped after 1922, death notices were still sent from Westminster and Horan acknowledged (as "Master of the High Court, formerly Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper") receipt of each and said it had been forwarded to the President of the Executive Council, who did nothing with it.

Personal life Horan married Kathleen Scallan, niece of Ignatius O'Brien's wife, Anne. They had a son, Desmond, husband of Paralympian Joan Horan, and a daughter, Sheelah Duggan.

He retired on turning 70 and died at home eight days later.