Sir Henry Lynch, 3rd Baronet

Sir Henry Lynch, 3rd Baronet (died 1691) was an Irish landowner, barrister and judge. He was one of the Roman Catholic judges appointed by James II & VII of England, Scotland and Ireland in his effort to transform the religious character of the Irish administration. As a judge, Lynch was described in unflattering terms both by his contemporaries and by later historians. Unlike some of his judicial colleagues, he was accused of gross bias against Protestants, which may be why he was one of the few Irish judges who fled abroad after the downfall of James's cause following the Battle of the Boyne. He died in exile in France.

Background He was a member of one of the oldest and most distinguished families in the city of Galway: his father was Sir Robuck Lynch, 2nd Baronet, who was Mayor of Galway in 1638-9. His mother was Ellen, daughter of Sir Peter French. He succeeded to the title in 1667. He entered the Middle Temple in 1664 and the King's Inn in 1674.

Judge From 1687 onwards a determined effort was made by the English Crown to replace the Protestants on the Irish Bench with Catholics. Lynch, who had already been appointed Recorder of Galway, was chosen as a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). All of James II's Catholic judges were the object of violent attacks on the grounds that they were lacking in integrity and learning, that they were entirely subject to the will of the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and that they were "wretchedly poor and indigent". The last charge was certainly not true of Lynch, but Ball notes that when he was appointed a High Court judge he had just twelve years experience at the Irish Bar (although Recorder in Ireland was a full-time role).