The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Blackburne, Francis

BLACKBURNE, Francis, Irish jurist: b. 1782; d. 1867. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin; called to the English bar in 1805 and to the Irish bar in 1822. He was attorney-general for Ireland in 1830 and 1841; master of the rolls, 1842; chief justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, 1846, and lord chancellor, 1852, 1866. He is remembered as having prosecuted Daniel O'Connell and as presiding at the trial of Smith O'Brien.