The reign of George I (1714-27) saw the emergence of the first major political dynasty to dominate the Corporation and city of Limerick. The Roches, sarcastically nicknamed ‘the Corporation Roches’, were virulent Whigs and supporters of the Penal Laws.

George Roche was the first Protestant Mayor of Limerick following the Williamite sieges in 1691-2. He had two sons, George Junior and Toxeth (Tock) Roche who also served as Mayor.

George Roche Jr. Served as Mayor of Limerick in 1702-3 and again in 1721-2. Between the years 1713 and 1721 he served as Member of Parliament for Limerick City.

Tock Roche was described as a ‘bigot and firebrand, and the civic autocrat’, he served as Mayor in 1705-6 and again in 1723-5.

Arthur Roche was the son of George Roche Jr. He served as Mayor on three occasions (1743-4, 1756-7 and 1760-1). Arthur Roche was also made Town Clerk in 1743. This consolidation of power within the council of one family reduced the influence of all opposition. The 1740’s and 1750’s are considered to be the classic period in the history of the ‘Corrupt Corporation’. In 1744 the notorious Mayor Arthur Roche appointed his nine-year-old son as pilot of the port of Limerick for life, even though he knew it was a position requiring ‘care and judgement’.

Corruption under the Corporation Roches took many forms. Arthur Roche, the strongman of the regime, told the House of Commons Committee of inquiry in 1761 that ‘he believed that no citizen of Limerick could now get a lucrative office without his consent, or any person admitted as alderman, Burgess or Freeman of the said City, without his consent’. The most blatant corruption occurred in 1747 and 1748, when some two-thirds of the Corporation’s property was leased to the Roches and their allies for terms of 999 years at very low rents.