John Cusacke

John Cusacke (died 1626) was awealthy merchant, landowner andpolitician in seventeenth-century Dublin,whoserved asMayor and Sheriff of Dublin.

He was born in County Meath, eldest of the ten children of Patrick Cusackeof Ballymolghan and his wife Maud Plunkett, daughter of Thomas Plunkett of Lagore,Ratoath.He was admitted as a freeman of the city of Dublin in 1592, having served his apprenticeship.He married Margaret Allen, daughter of Giles Allen, a former Mayor of Dublin,and widow of John Gough, an alderman of Dublin.They had five children,includingRobert, who inherited his father's estate andsat in the Irish House of Commons as MPfor Kells in 1640-42,and Anne, who married Richard Barry.

John served as Sheriff of Dublin City in 1599-1600and was an alderman of Dublin Corporation from 1604 until his death.He was active on several committees of the Corporation, and served as Treasurer in 1610-11. He was Mayor of Dublin in1608-9: Robert Kennedy, who had hoped forthe position, was apparently passed over because he was a recusant. John, though he conformed outwardlyto the Protestant faith, was far from unsympathetic to Roman Catholics, and was an active member of the Catholic Saint Anne's Guild, helpingto protect its charter when it was under threat. He served four terms asone ofthe masters of the Dublin merchants' guild,and on their behalf he petitioned the English Crown in 1609 for repayment of loans owing to theIrish Treasury: he claimed that£1300 was owed to him personally, an indication of his considerablewealth.

He became a substantial landowner inDublin and Meath. The principalCusacke family home wasRathgar Castle (which had been built by the Segrave family in the sixteenth century)inwhat is now a suburb of Dublin, which he bought in 1609. All trace of it has vanished today,but it probably stood on present day Highfield Road.

He was the grandfather of two distinguished judges: Robert, his eldest son,was the father of Adam Cusack, justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland), andJohn's daughter Anne was the mother of James Barry, 1st Baron Barry of Santry, Lord ChiefJustice of Ireland.

• Armstrong, Robert "John Cusack " Dictionary of Irish BiographyCambridgeUniversity Press
• Ball, F. ElringtonThe Judges in Ireland 1221-1921John MurrayLondon 1926