Frederick Falkiner

Who was Frederick Falkiner?

Sir Frederick Richard Falkiner PC, QC was an Irish lawyer, judge and author.

Falkiner was the third son of Richard Falkiner, of Mount Falcon, County Tipperary, Ireland, and was educated at the University of Dublin, from which he graduated in 1852, the same year that he was called to the Irish Bar. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1867 and was appointed as Law Adviser to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1875.

The following year he was appointed Recorder of Dublin, a judicial position he held for almost three decades. He became a bencher of King's Inns in 1880 and was knighted in 1896.

A man of great industry and natural eloquence, he soon won a foremost place in the ranks of the juniors and held briefs in many important cases. In 1876 he was appointed recorder of Dublin, on the death of Sir Frederick Shaw [q. v.]. He threw himself with energy into the work of the court, and as the 'poor man's judge' he earned a reputation for humanity. During his early years as recorder he was called upon to decide many intricate points in the licensing laws; Maurice Healy remarked that he was rather unwilling to add to the already large number of licensed premises in the city. He took a keen interest in the subject of workmen's compensation, and when Joseph Chamberlain was engaged in drafting the Workmen's Compensation Act 1897 he adopted several of Falkiner's suggestions. He retired from his office on 22 Jan 1005, when he was made a privy councillor. Falkiner was one of the most prominent members of the general synod of the Church of Ireland, and in the debates of that body, especially on financial questions, he frequently intervened with much effect. He was chancellor to the bishops of Tuam, Clogher, Kilmore, and Derry and Raphoe. He was also chairman of the board of King's Hospital, better known as tho Blue Coat School. Of this school he published in 1906 a history, which is in effect a history of Dublin from the Restoration to the Victorian era. Falkiner pursued literary interests; he wrote on Jonathan Swift's portraits, and a collection of his ' Literary Miscellanies ' was published posthumously in 1909. He married twice: in 1861 Adelaide Matilda, third daughter of Thomas Sadleir of Ballinderry Park, county Tipperary ; and Robina Hall, third daughter of N. B. M'Intire of Cloverhill, county Dublin. By his first wife he had issue three sons, including Caesar Litton Falkiner [q. v. Suppl. II], and four daughters.