Introduction
Sir Patrick White (c.1480-1561) was an Irishpolitician, landownerand judge, who was notablefor his forty-year tenure on the Irish Bench, much of which was spent assecond Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland).He founded a dynasty who were Lords of theManor of Dufferin, County Down, for several generations.
Career
He was born inFlemington, near Navan in County Meath.He is said to have come from a long-established landowning family, though little is known of his parents or his early life. He was appointed Baron of the Exchequer in 1521, and apart from a short period on the Court of King's Bench (Ireland)he served on theCourt of Exchequer until his death. He was one of the original lessees of the King's Inns in 1541.
He became a member of the Privy Council of Ireland in 1533, and was knighted. John Rawson, the last Prior of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem at Kilmainham, and later Viscount Clontarf, wasthenone ofthe handful of men who dominated thePrivy Council.White is known to have been close to him, andmarried his younger sonRowland to Rawson's natural daughter Catherine. Like most of his fellow judges he was enriched by the Dissolution of the Monasteries; he obtained lands at Clontarf which had belonged to the Order of St John (which was dissolved in 1541), possibly atLord Clontarf'ssuggestion. He also held lands at Rathsallagh in County Wicklow, and extensive holdings inMeath, and became lord of the manor of Dufferin in County Down. He died in 1561,while still serving on the Court of Exchequer.
Family
He married twice: little is known of his first wife. His second wife wasAlison St Lawrence, daughter of Nicholas St Lawrence, 4th Baron Howth, and widow of John Netterville. He had at least three children:
- Nicholas, hiseldest son and heir;
- Rowland, who married Catherine Rawson, natural daughter of Viscount Clontarf. He played a leading role in Ulster politics in the 1560s, and died in 1573, leaving a son and heir, John, who inherited Dufferin from his uncle Nicholas;
- Margaret, who married Walter Forster, alderman of Dublin,and had one surviving daughter, also called Margaret.