John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare PC (Ire) (1748 – 28 January 1802) was Attorney-General for Ireland from 1783 to 1789 and Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1789 to 1802. He was a controversial figure in Irish history, being described variously as a Protestant hardliner, a staunch anti-Roman Catholic, and an early advocate of political union between Ireland and Great Britain (which finally happened in 1801, shortly before his death). He is said to have been an early opponent of measures for Roman Catholic political relief (meaning the removal of some or all of the various forfeitures, civil penalties, and civil disabilities placed upon Catholics) in both Ireland and Great Britain, and may have been the first to suggest to George III that the King would violate his coronation oath if he consented to the admission of Catholics to Parliament. Early life FitzGibbon was born near Donnybrook, Dublin, the son of John FitzGibbon of Ballysheedy, County Limerick and his wife Isabella Grove, daughter of John Grove, of Ballyhimmock, County Cork. His father had been born a Catholic but converted to the state religion in order to become a lawyer, and amassed a large fortune. He had three sisters, Arabella, Elizabeth, and Eleanor. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and Christ Church, Oxford. He entered the Irish House of Commons in 1778 as Member for Dublin University, and held this seat until 1783, when he was appointed Attorney General. From the same year he represented Kilmallock until 1790. He was appointed High Sheriff of County Limerick for 1782. When appointed Lord Chancellor for Ireland in 1789, he was granted his first peerage as Baron FitzGibbon, of Lower Connello in the County of Limerick, in the Peerage of Ireland that year. This did not entitle him to a seat in the British House of Lords, only in the Irish House of Lords. His later promotions came mostly in the Peerage of Ireland, being advanced to a Viscountcy (1793) and the Earldom of Clare in 1795. He finally achieved a seat in the British House of Lords in 1799 when created Baron FitzGibbon, of Sidbury in the County of Devon, in the Peerage of Great Britain. FitzGibbon as Lord Chancellor John FitzGibbon, first Earl of Clare was a renowned champion of the Protestant Ascendancy and an opponent of Catholic emancipation. He despised the Parliament of Ireland's popular independent constitution of 1782. He