John Bere
Introduction
Sir John Bere(died 1617), whose surname was also spelt Beere or Bare,was an Irish politician, Crown official,barristerand part time judge ofthe early seventeenth century. He held office as King's Serjeant, and satin the Irish House of Commonsin 1613-15.
Although he later developed close links with the town of Carlow, he was born in Dublin. Little is knownof his family, although it is possible that Thomas Beere,who is listed as a member of the King's Inns in 1614, was a relative of John.
He became King's SerjeantinFebruary 1609following the death of Nicholas Kerdiffe,and entered the King's Inns the sameyear. Due to the expansion of the assize system in the early 1600s,the common lawjudges were unable to cope with the added workload, andtheKing's Serjeant was often called on to act as an extra judge of assize.Bere carried out this function on at least nine occasions. He seems to havebeen extremely conscientious in performing this very onerous task. In 1613 he wason assize for 68 days, travelling acrossmost of the southern half of Ireland. In 1615 he went on assize twice, for a total of 92days.
He served as Commissioner of the Irish Court of Wardsin 1610, 1613 and 1615. He sat on a commission to inquire intothe King's title to lands in County Wexford in 1611, andon a similar commission for County Longford and County Leitrim in 1615. Hewas knightedin 1615 for his impressive services to the Crown.
In the only Irish Parliament(1613–15) calledin the reign ofKing James I of England, Berewas one of the two MPs returned for Carlow Borough, the other being his fellow Law Officer, Sir Robert Jacobe. He also became a Burgessof Carlow under the new Royal Chartergranted to the town in1613. He died in 1617.
Sources
- Hart, A. R.History of the King's Serjeant at law in IrelandDublin Four Courts Press 2000
- Kenny, ColumKing's Innsand the Kingdom of IrelandDublin Irish Academic Press 1992
- Ryan, James History and Antiquities of the County of CarlowDublin Richard Moore Tims 1833
- Smyth, Constantine Joseph"Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland" Butterworth London 1838