Morley Saunders

Morley Saunders (c.1675-1737) was an Irish politician, barrister and landowner. He followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a member of the Irish House of Commons and later Prime Serjeant. He is mainly remembered today as the builder of the family residence, Saunder's Grove.

He was born in County Wexford, third son of Robert Saunders (died 1708), a wealthy lawyer and member of Parliament, who was Prime Serjeant 1703-1708; almost nothing is known about his mother. Morley's grandfather, Colonel Robert Saunders, had been Governor of Kinsale during the Interregnum, but retained his substantial holdings in Wexford after the Restoration of Charles II. Morley, unlike his grandfather, was described as a "passionate Tory". He had two elder brothers, Walter and Joseph, who died without issue. His father acquired substantial leasehold lands in County Laois, but his right to hold them was disputed by the Hoveden family, and involved his descendants in decades of litigation.

He was called to the Bar, and sat in the Irish House of Commons as member for Enniscorthy from 1703 to 1714. He became Second Serjeant in 1711 and Prime Serjeant the next year. He acted as an extra judge of assize in 1713.

Irish judges and law officers did not at that time enjoy security of tenure, and they were usually appointed on a party political basis. On the death of Queen Anne in August 1714, the new Whig Government in England took a poor view of the overwhelmingly Tory establishment in Ireland, and Morley, like virtually all of his colleagues, was dismissed in a "clean sweep" of the Irish judges later in the year.

His loss of this very lucrative office was presumably offset by the inheritance of the family estates from his brother Joseph in 1713. He spent much of his later years on building a new family residence, Saunder's Grove near Baltinglass, County Wicklow. It was described as a house of great beauty, and remained in the family for several generations, but was destroyed in the Irish Civil War.

Morley died in 1737. By his wife Frances Goodwin he had a daughter and heiress Cordelia, who married George Pendred. They had one son, Morley Pendred Saunders, who inherited the family estates from his grandfather, and at his request adopted the surname Saunders.

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