John de Burnham

John de Burnham (died 1363) was an English-born judge andCrown official who spent much of his career in Ireland. He heldoffice asLord High Treasurer of Ireland and Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He spent many yearstrying to clear himself of charges of corruption, which seem to have been the invention of malicious colleagues.

He was a native of Norfolk, and wasprobablyborn inone of the group ofadjacent villages which arecalledthe Burnhams. He became parish priest of Felmersham, Bedfordshire in 1333 and was named as a tax assessor for the same county in 1340. He was a member of the Royal Household from the 1320s onwards,and gained great experience in the field of finance, especiallyofarmy accounts.

Church of St Mary, Felmersham,Bedfordshire: Burnham was the parish priest herein the 1330s.

In 1343 he was sent to Ireland as Lord Treasurer; he also became a canonof St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin and a prebendary of Cloyne. His appointment as Tresurerwas apparently connected with complaints by the Privy Council of Ireland about the efficiency of the Irish Exchequer, andthe Council's doubts about the honesty of Burnham's predecessor Hugh de Burgh. It wasno doubt thought that Burnham, with his long experience of administering the Englishroyal finances, would be a reforming Treasurer; but it is difficult to determine what,if anything,he achieved, and his long battle to clear himself of charges of corruption can hardly have made the task of reforming the Irish Exchequer any easier.

In 1348 he was summoned to England to answer veryserious charges as tohis record as Treasurer,involving accusations of fraud, negligence and concealment of the royal revenuesfor his ownprofit. His stay in England lastedfor seven years, requiring him to appoint attorneysto manage his Irish affairs. The charges appear to have been instigated byWilliam de Barton, a disgruntled official in the Exchequer of Ireland with apersonal grudge against Burnham.Bartonbelonged to a rival faction in the Dublin administration, and played a large part in the subsequent inquiry. There is no evidence that Burnham was regarded by the restof his colleagues as corrupt.

In the end Burnhamwas cleared of any wrongdoing. While the accusations against himwere numerous and detailed, Connolly concludes that there is nocredible evidence to support any of them, and that the chargeswerefabricated byBurnham'srival William de Barton.Although Barton, given the lackof evidence to support them,could not hope to prove the charges, he couldhope that the length and complexity of the inquiry, which he himself dragged out as far as possible, would cause Burnham a great deal of time and trouble.

Having vindicated his good name, Burnham returned to Irelandtotake uptheoffice ofLord Chief Baron in 1355. He remained in office until his death in 1363. He and his former enemy William deBarton appear to have resolved their differences, andthey worked amicably together in theCourt of Exchequer for several years.