Thomas O'Hagan, 1st Baron O'Hagan
|
|
Thomas O'Hagan, 1st Baron O'Hagan, KP (May 29, 1812 - February 1, 1885), Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was born in Belfast, the son of a trader. He was educated at Belfast Academical Institution, and was called to the Irish Bar in 1836. In 1840 he removed to Dublin, where he appeared for the repeal party in many political trials, becoming an Irish Queen's Counsel in 1849.
His advocacy of a continuance of the Union with Great Britain, and his appointment as Solicitor-General for Ireland in 1860 and Attorney-General in the following year, lost him the support of the Nationalist party, but he was returned to Parliament as Liberal Member for Tralee in 1863. In 1865 he was appointed a judge of common pleas, and in 1868 became Lord Chancellor of Ireland in William Gladstone's first ministry.
He was the first Roman Catholic to hold the chancellorship since the reign of James II, an Act of Parliament throwing open the office to Roman Catholics having been passed in 1867. In 1870 he was created Baron O'Hagan, of Tullahogue in the County of Tyrone, and held office until the resignation of the ministry in 1874. In 1880 he again became Lord Chancellor on Gladstone's return to office, but resigned in 1881.
On his retirement from office Lord O'Hagan was in 1882 appointed a Knight of St Patrick, having become Vice Chancellor of the Royal University of Ireland the previous year. He died at Hereford House, London, in 1885, and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. He was succeeded as second Baron O'Hagan by his eldest son, Thomas Towneley O'Hagan (1878-1900), and then as third Baron by another son, Maurice Herbert Towneley Towneley-O'Hagan (1882-1961).
| Preceded by: Abraham Brewster | Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1868–1874 | Followed by: In Commission |
| Preceded by: John Thomas Ball | Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1880–1881 | Followed by: Hugh Law |
| Preceded by: New Creation | Baron O'Hagan | Followed by: Thomas Towneley O'Hagan |