Finglas was appointed Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer by Henry VIII in 1520, and afterwards, by patent dated at Westminster 8 May 1534 [1] he was constituted Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland in the place of Sir Bartholomew Dillon, recently deceased. He resigned the latter office in 1535,[2] and later served a second term as Chief Baron until his death in 1537. He was a member of the Privy Council of Ireland.