Ruth Cannon BL, Barrister, Four Courts History
Sharing old stories from Ireland's historic centre of justice.
From the Irish Independent, 15 May 1916:
“A FOUR COURTS PRISONER
Captain RK Brereton, JP, Ladywell, Athlone, relating his experiences in Dublin during the rising, states that he motored through the Phoenix Park on Easter Monday evening, and was taken prisoner by the Sinn Feiners at a barricade near the Four Courts, being informed that “war had been declared with the British;” that “three contingents of Germans were landing in Dublin” and “that the Irish regiments had refused to turn
From the Waterford Standard, 14 March 1931:
“LADY BARRISTER WINS HER FIRST MURDER CASE
When she defended Mary Ellen Farrelly, Goiley, Fordstown, Kells, at the Central Criminal Court, Dublin, this week, Miss K Phelan BL won the first murder case in which she had pleaded.
Farrelly was charged with the murder of her infant son, Thomas, on January 5th or 6th last, and the jury found her not guilty and she was discharged.
Miss Phelan, a promising young lady barrister, is daughter of the late
From the Belfast Commercial Chronicle Dublin 2 May, 1816:
“On Tuesday evening, two young men of the names of John Goold and Michael White, had a regular pitched battle in the field near the Military Road, which terminated, after two-and-twenty rounds, by blow given by the latter to the stomach of the former, which put an end to the battle, and the life of Goold together.
These young men were the sons of two housekeepers of the Four Courts, Goold’s mother having the care of the Court of Common
From the Northern Whig, 29 October 1907
“It is not the first time that trop de zele has brought trouble upon honest people. The eagerness of Mr Robert Doyle, a member of the Irish Bar, in the cause of prevention of cruelty to animals, made him a defendant in an action for damages in the Recorder’s Court today.
Matthew Gahan, a County Wexford farmer, sent 320 sheep through Dublin to be shipped for England a few months ago. On the way from the railway station to the inspection
All members of the Irish Bar know of Averil Deverell, whose enigmatic representation in oils smiles down, Brodie-like, from the wall of the Four Courts Law Library.
Miss Deverell holds the distinction of being not only the first practising woman barrister in Southern Ireland but also one of the first (possibly the only?) set of twins at the Irish Bar, her twin brother Captain William Deverell featuring in the same call of 1921.
Although not possible to go back in time and see Miss Deverell on
