Anthony Upton (judge)

Anthony Upton (1656-1718) was an English-born judge, much of whose career was spent in Ireland. He was a close friend of the poet William King who spent much time at Mountown, Upton's country house outside Dublin. Upton was accused by his critics of neglecting his official duties, but he showed a notably enlightened attitude at the Carrickfergus witchcraft trials, where he urged the jury to acquit all the accused. He was removed from the Bench in 1714, on account of his politics, and returned to England, where for unknown reasons he committed suicide in 1718.^[1]

Early life

He was born at Monken Hadley in Middlesex, son of John Upton, a merchant, and Jane Lytcott, daughter of Sir John Lytcott of Molesey. He was educated at Oxford, first at Trinity College and then at All Souls College, from which he graduated in 1674. He entered Lincoln's Inn and was called to the Bar in 1683.^[2]

William King

He was appointed a judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) in 1702.^[3] He acquired a comfortable house at Mountown, near present-day Monkstown, County Dublin. He was accused by his political opponents of spending most of his time at Mountown, to the neglect of his office, in company with his friend, the poet William King. King wrote perhaps his best-known poem, Mully of Mountown (a mock ode to a red cow), while staying with Upton.^[4] They shared a taste for poetry and country life: but since King was also a Crown official, who held several senior positions including Judge Advocate and Commissioner for Prizes, there may be some justice in the criticism that they were both ignoring their official duties.^[5] It was said that the pair 'thought of nothing but spending their last years in their rural retreat"; but in the event King returned to England in 1708 and died there in 1712.^[6]

Upton, to do him justice, was not alone in neglecting his official duties: his colleague Sir Gilbert Dolben, 1st Baronet, despite his appointment to the Irish Court of Common Pleas refused to vacate his seat in the House of Commons of England and spent part of every year in England.^[7]

Witch trials

On at least one occasion Upton showed himself to be a responsible and humane judge: this was at the Carrickfergus witchcraft trials in 1711. These were the last such trials in Ireland, and are said to have originated in a dispute between two Protestant factions, the accusers being non-confomists while the accused were Anglicans. In all eight women- Janet Mean, Janet Latimer, Janet Miller, Margaret Mitchell, Catherine McCalmond, Janet Liston, Elizabeth Seller and Janet Carson- were accused of bewitching a young woman called Mary Dunbar.^[8]

Upton in his summing-up to the jury did not say that he disbelieved in witchcraft- this was a very advanced view for the time- rather he dwelt on the good character of the accused. Since witches were supposed to renounce churchgoing, he pointed to the accuseds' regular attendance at church as evidence of their innocence, and referred to Mary Dunbar's evidence as "visionary imaginings". He told the jury that they "could not bring the accused in guilty upon such evidence".^[9]

Unfortunately for the accused his fellow judge James Macartney urged the jury to convict, which they duly did. Since witchcraft was in theory a capital crime, the sentence- a year in prison and four sessions in the pillory- was relatively lenient, although it is said that the convicts were treated very roughly by an angry crowd while being pilloried..^[10]

Death

On the death of Queen Anne in 1714, her Irish judges were removed en masse ^[11] and most of them were in temporary disgrace. No permanent damage was done to their reputations, but Upton perhaps felt the disgrace more keenly then the others. Abandoning his comfortable home at Mountown, he returned to England and to his practice at the English Bar, but in 1718, while suffering from what was described as "delirium", he cut his throat.^[12]

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