Michael Smith

Who was Michael Smith?

Sir Michael Smith, 1st Baronet, of Tuam was an Irish judge, who founded a judicial dynasty whose members were noted for eccentricity. He was the first of the Cusack-Smith baronets.

He was born at Newtown, County Offaly, the son of William Smith and his wife Hester Lynch. He graduated from the University of Dublin, and was called to the Bar in 1769. He was elected member of the Irish House of Commons for Randalstown in 1783, and was noted for his eloquence. He was raised to the Bench as a Baron of the Court of Exchequer in 1793; in 1801 he became Master of the Rolls in Ireland, retiring in 1806. The Mastership had long been notorious as a sinecure for politicians, some of whom had no legal qualifications: the appointment of Smith, a judge of undoubted ability, is thought to have been due to a conscious policy of making the Mastership a full time and responsible judicial office, and the policy was successful.

His first marriage to Maryanne Cusack of Ballyronan was an interesting one for an ambitious young lawyer as Maryanne was an open and devout Roman Catholic. Their eldest son Sir William Cusack-Smith, 2nd Baronet followed his father into the law and as a Baron of the Exchequer. His appointment caused disquiet both because he was only 35 and because he was already showing marked signs of eccentricity. William's second son Thomas Berry Cusack Smith continued the family traditions of judicial eminence and eccentricity: like his grandfather he was Master of the Rolls in Ireland and like his father he was notably eccentric.