Author: Alley, Peter
Biography:
ALLEY, Peter (1769-1834: ancestry.co.uk)
He was baptised at St. Peter’s, Dublin, on 6 Jan. 1769 and was the son of Peter and Ann Alley; his mother’s surname at her birth was Alley. The admission records for the Middle Temple where Peter Alley was called to the bar on 27 Nov. 1793 identify his father as “of Whaley Abbey, Wicklow.” He studied at Trinity College Dublin, earning his BA and MA in 1793. On 18 Dec. 1791 he married Martha Mendham at All Hallows in the City of London. They had one son, William Henry, who died in 1812. Alley became a prominent criminal lawyer who defended John Bellingham after he shot the prime minister, Spencer Perceval, in 1812. He was known for his blunt manner and irascible temper; on at least one occasion this led to a duel, fought in Calais with John Adolphus, another Old Bailey counsel. At the time of his death in July 1834 he was living at 1 Albany Terrace but his will shows that he owned multiple properties in London. His funeral was on 30 July at Holy Trinity Church, Marylebone, London, and his will was proved on 7 Aug. He left some valuable properties to a “kind and faithful friend,” Margaret Barnett. He wished her to reside with his wife for as long as Martha Alley remained a widow which he hoped would be “for the rest of her life.” (ancestry.co.uk 17 May 2022; churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie 17 May 2022; Catalogue of Graduates; O’Donoghue; Register of Admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple [1949]) SR