Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 59.djvu/222

  Répertoire du Clergé Canadien, Montreal, 1893; Rose's Cyclop. of Canadian Biography, Toronto, 1888.] 

WALSH, JOHN BENN, first  (1798–1881), born at Warfield Park, Berkshire, on 9 Dec. 1798, was the only son of Sir John Benn Walsh, bart., of Warfield Park, Berkshire, and Ormathwaite, Cumberland. His father was the son of William Benn of Moor Row, Cumberland, a member of an old north-country family; he married in 1778 Margaret, daughter of Joseph Fowke of Bexley, Kent, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Walsh, governor of Fort St. George. On 4 April 1795 he assumed the surname and arms of Walsh by royal license, in compliance with the will of his wife's uncle, John Walsh (1725?–1795) [q. v.], son of Joseph Walsh. He was created a baronet on 14 June 1804, sat for Bletchingly 1802–6, and died on 7 June 1825. His son was educated at Eton, and matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, on 3 Dec. 1816 (, Alumni Oxon.) Entering parliament for the borough of Sudbury in 1830, he represented that constituency in the tory interest in three parliaments until December 1834. An ardent politician and an able writer, he published several pamphlets on parliamentary reform. In January 1835 Sir John contested the county of Radnor, but was defeated by a small majority. At the next general election, following the accession of the queen in 1837, he was an unsuccessful candidate for Poole, but the following March was again returned at a by-election for Sudbury. In two years' time, however, he accepted the Chiltern Hundreds, and was returned (on 10 June 1840) without opposition for Radnorshire, which he afterwards represented for nearly twenty-eight years, the only occasion on which his re-election was challenged being in 1841, when he defeated Lord Harley. He was J.P. and D.L. for Berkshire, and served as high sheriff of that county in 1823. Being lord of the manor of Trewerne in Radnorshire and the owner of considerable property there, he was also J.P. for that county and high sheriff in 1825, and on 11 Aug. 1842 was sworn in lord-lieutenant and custos rotulorum of Radnorshire. On 16 April 1868 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Ormathwaite. Owing to advancing years he resigned the lieutenancy of Radnorshire in favour of his son, the present lord, who received the appointment on 19 April 1875. Ormathwaite died at his seat, Warfield Park, Bracknell, Berkshire, on 3 Feb. 1881. He married, on 8 Nov. 1825, Jane, youngest daughter of George Harry Grey, sixth earl of Stamford and Warrington. By her he had two sons and two daughters, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Arthur.

Ormathwaite was author of some able pamphlets, of which the principal were: 1. ‘The Poor Laws in Ireland,’ 1830. 2. ‘Observations on the Ministerial Plan of Reform,’ 1831. 3. ‘On the Present Balance of Parties in the State,’ 1832. 4. ‘Chapters of Contemporary History,’ 1836. 5. ‘Political Back-Games,’ 1871. 6. ‘Astronomy and Geology Compared,’ 1872. 7. ‘Lessons of the French Revolution, 1789–1872,’ 1873.

[Foster's Peerage; Haydn's Book of Dignities, ed. Ockerby; Official Returns of Members of Parliament; H. S. Smith's Parliaments; Williams's Parliamentary History of Wales; obituary notices in Times and Guardian.] 

WALSH, JOHN EDWARD (1816–1869), Irish judge and writer, born on 12 Nov. 1816, was the son of Robert Walsh [q. v.], by his wife Ann, daughter of John Bayly. He received his early education at Bective school, Dublin, and matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, in July 1832. At the conclusion of his undergraduate course he was awarded the first gold medal both in classics and ethics. He graduated B.A. in 1836.

In 1839 Walsh was called to the Irish bar, and joined the Leinster circuit. During his early years at the bar Walsh was a frequent contributor to the ‘Dublin University Magazine.’ He also edited several law-books, one of which, brought out in 1844 in conjunction with Richard Nun, on ‘The Powers and Duties of Justices of the Peace in Ireland,’ was long a standard text-book on the subject to which it relates. He was a reporter in the court of chancery from 1843 to 1852. In 1857 Walsh became a queen's counsel, and, two years later, crown prosecutor at Green Street. In 1866 he was appointed attorney-general for Ireland in Lord Derby's third administration, and in the same year was elected to represent the university of Dublin in parliament. In the same year he was raised to the Irish bench as master of the rolls, in succession to Thomas Barry Cusack-Smith [q. v.] In this eminent position Walsh displayed judicial qualities of a high order. His decision in the celebrated cause of MacCormac v. The Queen's University was of capital importance. It invalidated the charter granted to the university by Earl Russell's government in 1866. It was during his tenure of office as master of the rolls that the Irish public record office was reorganised under Sir Samuel Ferguson [q. v.]

Upon the disestablishment of the church of Ireland, Walsh became an active member