Sir Robert Doyne

Sir Robert Doyne (1651–1733) was member of the Irish House of Commons for New Ross from 1692 to 1695, and later a distinguished judge who served as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer from 1695 to 1703 and Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas from 1703 to 1714. In the latter year like all the senior judges in Ireland appointed under Queen Anne he was removed by the new administration; while allegations of corruption were made, his removal seems to have been a simple matter of politics. Although the Irish House of Commons passed a resolution that he had acted corruptly, no further action seems to have been taken against him and he lived in peaceful retirement for many years.

He was born in Dublin, the eldest son of Michael Doyne and educated at the University of Dublin. In 1684 he married Jane, widow of Joseph Saunders and daughter of Henry Whitfield, who died in 1712.

Sir Robert is mentioned in Teague Land: or A Merry Ramble to the Wild Irish (1698) and was a descendant of Rory Ó Duinn, lord of Úi Riagán in Laois. His branch of the family successfully made the transition from Gaelic-Irish to Anglo-Irish culture, and were based at Brittas. A lawsuit concerning earlier generations of the family is preserved in The O Doyne Manuscript, which offers unique insight into Gaelic-Irish land use.

In 1698 the Irish born publisher and author John Dunton gave a favourable picture of the Irish judiciary, including Doyne: "men whose reputation is such that no one complains of them".