Sir George Radcliffe (1599 – May 1657) was an English lawyer and politician. He spent much of his political career in Ireland, where he was a key member of the firm and ruthless Strafford administration. He lived out his last years in exile in the Dutch Republic. Early career Born the son of Nicholas Radcliffe (d. 1599) of Overthorpe, West Yorkshire and his wife Margaret Marsh, widow of John Bayley, Radcliffe was educated at Oldham and at University College, Oxford. As a student lawyer at Gray's Inn in 1613, Radcliffe was asked to contribute to the costs of masques at the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V of the Palatinate. He attained some measure of success as a barrister, and about 1626 became the confidential adviser of Sir Thomas Wentworth, afterwards Earl of Strafford, who was related to his wife, Anne Trappes (died 1659). Strafford was a man with a gift for making enemies, but Radcliffe remained his devoted friend for life. Strafford's biographer notes that "in all the crises of his life it was to Radcliffe that he opened his heart". Like his master, he was imprisoned in 1627 for declining to contribute to a forced loan, but he shared the good, as well as the ill, fortunes of Wentworth, acting as his adviser when he was president of the Council of the North. In Ireland When Wentworth was made Lord Deputy of Ireland, Radcliffe, in January 1633, preceded him to that country, and having been made a member of the Privy Council of Ireland he was trusted by the Deputy in the fullest possible way, his advice being of the greatest service. Wentworth wrote that of all the Privy Council, he confided only in Radcliffe and Christopher Wandesford, whose services to him could never be adequately rewarded. It was Radcliffe who persuaded Strafford to mend an early quarrel with James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, arguing rightly that Ormonde would be a friend and ally of immense value. On the other hand, he and Strafford showed very poor judgement in their campaign of harassment against the powerful magnate Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, who became an implacable enemy of Strafford, and worked patiently over the years for his ruin. Radcliffe sat in the Irish House of Commons as member for County Armagh in the Parliament of 1634-5 and for County Sligo in the Parliament of 1639-41,