Robert Cusack

Robert Cusack (c.1516–1570) was an Irish judge of the sixteenth century, who held office as a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). His parents' marriage was unhappy and in 1537 it was annulled on the grounds of consanguinity; Robert's father always denied that there had been a valid marriage between himself and Joan, and spoke of his second wife Maud Darcy as his first "lawful" wife. On the other hand, Thomas acknowledged the paternity of Robert and his other children by Joan, and he seems to have treated them generously enough. In the 1550s Robert was living at Lismullen Abbey, which his father had acquired on the Dissolution of the Monasteries (ironically his sister was the last Abbess of Lismullen), and later he lived at the older family home at Cussington. In 1566 he was appointed one of three members of the Council for the Government of Munster, but was accused of showing too much favour to Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond. He sat on several Royal Commissions in the 1560s, to survey lands, determine disputed land titles, and to negotiate with the O'Reilly clan. In 1567, along with all the other senior judges, he was named as one of the lessees of King's Inn. He was granted several wardships, including that of his niece Mary Wise.

His attempt to become Chief Baron He was a staunch Protestant, at a time when many Irish judges, including (reputedly) his own father, while publicly adhering to the Church of Ireland, practised the Roman Catholic faith in private. His supporters called him, no doubt with some exaggeration, "the only Protestant on the Bench". On account of his zeal for the Reformation, Robert was recommended for the office of Chief Baron but against their pleas, he was passed over by Elizabeth in favour of Sir Lucas Dillon, James Bathe's son-in-law, despite Dillon's known inclination to the Roman Catholic faith.

The Queen however acknowledged that if Dillon had not had what she regarded (for reasons which are unclear) as the prior claim, she would have given the post to Cusack: for "we hear very good report of him.... and so we would have you inform him that he be not in any way discouraged".

Of his children, who were all by Katherine, various sources Francis Lavalin Nugent, the Irish Catholic priest who founded the Irish province of the Capuchin Order, was her nephew.

Robert's sister Catherine Cusack, who married Sir Henry Colley, was the ancestor of the 1st Duke of Wellington, whose family changed their name from Colley to Wellesley (Catherine and Robert had a Wellesley grandmother).