William Halsey

William Halsey (died after 1672) was a politician, soldier and judge in seventeenth-century Ireland. He was Mayor of Waterford, a member of each of the three Protectorate Parliaments, and the last Chief Justice of Munster.

Biography Little seems to be known of his origins or his early life: he developed close links with the city of Waterford, but apparently only in adult life. He is first heard of as a captain in the Cromwellian Army. After the triumph of the Cromwellian cause in Ireland in 1650–51 he was awarded several confiscated Royalist estates, although his right to the former Esmonde lands in Wexford was disputed.

He sat in each of the three Protectorate Parliaments as a member of the newly combined constituency of the Cities of Waterford and Clonmel. He was one of the "Kinglings" i.e. the party in Parliament which unsuccessfully urged Oliver Cromwell to accept the English Crown in 1657.

Given his record of unswerving loyalty to Cromwell, and in particular his involvement in the efforts to persuade Cromwell to accept the Crown, it is remarkable that his career continued to flourish after the Restoration of Charles II. Despite attacks on his loyalty to the Crown by his political enemies, and complaints about his less than scrupulous manner of acquiring Royalist property, he seems to have been generally regarded as a man of integrity. This may partly account for his survival and continuing prosperity: in any case Charles II in the early years of his reign adopted a conscious policy of reconciliation with his former enemies. Halsey also enjoyed the patronage of Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, the new Lord President of Munster, whose family were the dominant political force in Munster.

In addition to being Mayor of Waterford, he returned to the Provincial Court of Munster as Chief Justice and remained in that office until the Court was abolished in 1672. His date of death is not recorded. He was married: his wife appears to have been a connection of the Esmonde family.