Sir John Plunket was an Irish politician and judge of the Tudor era who held the office of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He was also a member of the Privy Council of Ireland and was regarded by three successive English monarchs as a valued servant of the Crown. He was noted for his integrity, but was criticised for remaining in office when old age and illness had made him clearly unfit for it. He is notable as the fifth of the six husbands of Jenet Sarsfield.
He remained a member of the Privy Council to the end of his life life, and until his last years, when his health failed, was one of its most diligent members. In 1562 he went to England to report to the Queen on Irish affairs. In 1565, after the long-standing feud between Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond and Gerald Fitzgerald, 15th Earl of Desmond had erupted into the conflict known as the Battle of Affane, Plunket was entrusted, together with the Lord Justice of Ireland, Sir Nicholas Arnold, with holding an inquiry into the causes of the dispute, and in 1567 he oversaw the confiscation of certain of the Desmond properties. He was knighted the same year. During the cess controversy, where almost all of the landowners of the Pale objected to the taxation reforms proposed by the Lord Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, Plunket was almost alone in supporting Sidney, and earned his gratitude as a result. Successive administrations praised Plunket's diligence and incorruptibility. However, from about 1577 complaints were increasingly made about his unfitness for office due to his great age and ill health: "an old man, and evil able to attend his place with diligence.
Last years and death
He remained in office until his death, by which time he was well into his 80s, and said to be infirm and blind. Although his third marriage to the much-married Jenet Sarsfield seems to have been happy enough, he was troubled by a long lawsuit between Jenet and her stepson Edward Cusack. Not surprisingly he took his wife's side in the dispute and was accused by Edward of corruption as a result, to which charge he indignantly replied that he had served the Queen uprightly since the beginning of her reign and had never in his life written anything but the truth. After a long decline in health, he died in 1582. In his will he noted that the money which Jenet had brought him made him "none the richer"; however he lists among his valuables an impressive collection of silver. He was noted for charitable works: he built two chapels, and a room over a local mineral spring. One of the chapels contains a carving on which the initials of John and Jenet are visible. Although he was outwardly a member of the Church of Ireland,, he is said to have practised the Roman Catholic faith in private.
Family
Plunket married firstly Elizabeth Preston; secondly Catherine, sister of Sir Thomas Luttrell; and thirdly Jenet Sarsfield. All his children were from his marriage to Catherine Luttrell. They were:
James, who married Catherine FitzWilliam, daughter of Sir Thomas FitzWilliam of Merrion Castle; after his death she remarried Christopher Preston, 4th Viscount Gormanston, and died in 1602;
James predeceased him and Dunsoghly passed to his grandson Sir Christopher Plunket.
Character
Plunket was a popular and respected figure, known as "good Sir John Plunket", and he seems to have had remarkably few enemies. Despite the attack on his probity by Edward Cusack he was much praised for his integrity. Only in his last years was he criticised for clinging to office when he was clearly unfit for it. A certain arrogance about his family's lineage was considered to be one of his few faults.
