John Bowes (1690-1767) was born in Surrey and studied law in London with the great legal administrator Philip Yorke, later 1st Earl of Hardwicke, and Lord Chief Justice. In 1718 he was called to the bar in Ireland where he spent the rest of his career, becoming Solicitor-General within twelve years and Member of Parliament for Taghmon in 1731. In 1743 Bowes presided over the celebrated case Mr Annesley vs. the Earl of Anglesey which involved a dispute over paternity, kidnap, slavery and the accidental shooting of a gamekeeper in Staines. In 1757, through the patronage of his friend Hardwicke, Bowes was promoted to the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland. A contemporary described him as 'a terror to fraud and a protection and comfort to every honest man'