Richard Jebb

Richard Jebb (1766–1834) was an Anglo-Irish judge of the nineteenth century. He was a member of a gifted family of English origin, which produced a celebrated doctor, three distinguished clerics, and a noted classical scholar.

Background He was born in Drogheda, eldest son of John Jebb and his second wife Alicia Forster. He entered Lincoln's Inn and was called to the Irish Bar in 1789, becoming King's Counsel in 1806. He was a moderate opponent of the Act of Union 1800, although in his pamphlet "Arguments for and against the Act of Union", he endeavoured to be fair to both sides of the debate.

Like many former opponents of the Union, he was prepared to accept office under the new regime, although he refused to sit in the English House of Commons. He became Third Serjeant in 1816, Second Serjeant in 1818 and a justice of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland) in 1818.

He married in 1802 Jane Louisa Finlay, eldest daughter of John Finlay of Corkagh, MP for County Dublin and his wife Elizabeth Stear of Bedfordshire, who is said to have been a considerable heiress.