People, Place and Power – The Grand Jury System in Ireland

14 light on the dynamics of local politics (Table 1), with new panellists being introduced and others being dropped each year. Of the sixteen new panellists in spring 1830 four had been on the panel in spring 1828, and it is possible that the selections reflected the political and social preferences of the sheriff in office. Map 1 shows the residences of the spring 1828 grand panellists which were well dispersed throughout the county. Table 1. The dynamics of grand panel membership, County Roscommon, 1828–30. Grand panel Panellists retained Panellists dropped New panellists Total panellists Spring 1828 Unknown Unknown Unknown 42 Spring 1829 35 7 13 48 Spring 1830 37 11 16 53 Given the small pool from which grand panels were drawn, it is not surprising to see a continuity of membership between successive grand juries, and some counties struggled to fill their grand jury benches. In Roscommon, we see that 7 of the 42 panellists of 1828 served on all six grand juries between spring 1828 and summer 1830, and half of the 42 served on at least three occasions (Table 2). Neither is it surprising to see the county’s MPs (Arthur French, Frenchpark and Robert King, Rockingham) on the panel, with French appointed at both assizes in 1828 and 1830. Politics may have been involved here, as King had taken the seat of the pro-Catholic Stephen Mahon of Strokestown House at the 1826 election. Notably, one of the jurors appointed six times was The O’Conor Don of Belanagare (Owen O’Conor). He succeeded King as MP at the 1830 uncontested election, becoming the county’s first Catholic parliamentary representative since the James II parliament of 1689. 11