Clare, John Fitzgibbon, 1st earl of

Clare, John Fitzgibbon, 1st earl of, 1749–1802, Irish statesman. He was (1783–89) attorney general of Ireland and in 1789 became lord chancellor. A resolute upholder of the Protestant ascendancy in Ireland, he denounced the Catholic Relief Act of 1793 and helped to thwart Lord Fitzwilliam in his move toward Catholic Emancipation. He was instrumental in effecting the Act of Union (1800) between England and Ireland. Clare, who was created earl in 1795, was so unpopular in Ireland that his funeral was broken up by a mob.