efficiency in doing business was such that it was said that virtually all equity litigation in his time was diverted to Chancery (this may have been partly because the Court of Exchequer, which had a competing equity jurisdiction, was notoriously slow and inefficient; it had been described earlier in the century as being in a state of "confusion and disorder beyond remedy"). Barristers who practised in his court, like John Philpot Curran, fondly recalled "the great Lord Lifford" after his death, and cited him as a model for other judges to follow. Family Lord Lifford married firstly Mary Rhys Williams, daughter of the Rev. Rhys (or Price) Williams of Stapleford Abbotts, Essex, Archdeacon of Carmarthen, in 1749, by whom he had four sons, including James, his heir, John, Dean of Cloyne, and Joseph Hewitt (1754–1794), justice of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland). She died in 1765. His second wife was Ambrosia Bayley, daughter of the Rev. Charles Bayley of Navestock and Elizabeth Beck, whom he married in 1766: her youth and beauty aroused much admiration in Ireland. By Ambrosia, he had one further son and two daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son, James Hewitt, 2nd Viscount Lifford (1750–1830). He lived at Belvedere House, Drumcondra. Ambrosia died in 1807. Arms References |- 1712 births 1789 deaths 18th-century Anglo-Irish people Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland Peers of Ireland created by George III Lord chancellors of Ireland Justices of the King's Bench Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1761–1768 Members of Parliament for Coventry People from the City of Carlisle