William de Skipwith

William de Skipwith (died after 1392) was a fourteenth-century English judge, who also served as a judge in Ireland. He held the office of Chief Baron of the Exchequer 1362-5. He suffered temporary disgrace when he was removed from office for corruption, but he was restored to favour, became Lord Chief Justice of Ireland 1370-2, the Fitzsimons were from Ormsby in Lincolnshire, where the de Skipwiths later settled. On the death of his elder brother, William inherited the family estates. He became Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1362, and a trier of petitions in Parliament.

Disgrace and return

In 1365 Skipwith and the Lord Chief Justice, Henry Green, were removed from office for having acted "contrary to law and justice", and having unlawfully obtained large sums of money. Green never held office again, but Skipwith was only in temporary disgrace. In 1372 he was on an assize in Kilkenny, hearing a complex inheritance dispute, and 1373 he is recorded as sitting on a commission of gaol delivery in Dublin. William Skipwith (died 1547), MP for Lincolnshire, was a direct descendant.