BLACKBURNE, FRANCIS (1782-1867), lord chancellor of Ireland, was born at Great Footstown, Co. Meath, Ireland, on Nov. 1, 1782, educated at Trinity college, Dublin, and called to the English bar in 1805. He practised with success. Called to the Irish bar in 1822, he vigorously administered the Insurrection Act in Limerick for two years. In Ireland (1826) he became serjeant at-law, attorney-general (183o and i841), master of the rolls (1842), chief justice of the queen's bench (1846), lord chancellor (1852 and 1866), lord justice of appeal (1856). He prosecuted O'Connell and presided at the trial of Smith O'Brien. He died on Sept. 17, 1867.