John Povey

Sir John Povey (1621–1679) was an English-born judge who had a highly successful career in Ireland, holding office as Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) and subsequently as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland during the years 1673–9.

Background He was born at Woodseaves, near Market Drayton, Shropshire, eldest son of John Povey. Thomas Povey, the friend of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, who features often in Pepys' Diary, was his cousin. Through another Povey cousin Anne Blathwayt, daughter of Justinian Povey, auditor-general to Queen Anne of Denmark, the Poveys developed a useful family connection to the politically prominent Blathwayt family. John was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, and matriculated in 1636. He entered Gray's Inn in 1638 and was called to the Bar in 1645.

Career He is first heard of in Ireland in 1658, when he was acting as legal advisor to Sir John Barrington, 3rd Baronet, a politician and landowner who, although he was a relative of Oliver Cromwell, had refused to sit as one of the judges at the trial of Charles I. Povey went on the Munster circuit, did well at the Irish Bar, and brought his family to live in Ireland. He was knighted, and given the Freedom of the City of Dublin. He earned praise for his good services as Chief Justice, and it was suggested that he might be transferred to the English Bench in 1675; but soon after his wife's death in 1677, his health began to fail. He went to France in hope of a cure, but died at Bordeaux early in 1679. His body was brought back to Ireland, and he was buried in St. Michan's Church, Dublin Richard; Mary, who married Dr. William Smyth (1638-1699), Bishop of Raphoe, and later Bishop of Kilmore. Their descendants were the well-known landowning Smyth family of Barbavilla Manor, County Westmeath.