Lucy, Anthony (c.1283–1343), knight, justiciar of Ireland, was younger son of Thomas Lucy and Isabel, daughter of Adam de Bolteby, and was 25 years old or more when he entered into his inheritance (Oct. 1308) after the death of his elder brother, Thomas. With the exception of his time in Ireland, his entire career was spent in the service of the crown in northern England and Scotland. In May 1313 he was appointed keeper of the marches in Cumberland, and in 1314 he was captured and ransomed after the débâcle at Bannockburn. In December 1315 he and his retinue were given licence to keep any booty and ransoms they might acquire in Scotland. He was sheriff of Cumberland and Westmorland (1318–19, 1323, 1338–41), regularly keeper of the peace there, and on a number of occasions warden of Carlisle and constable of the castles of Carlisle and Appleby. After the discovery of Andrew Harclay's treason, Lucy arrested the earl in February 1323 and was awarded manors forfeited by Harclay. In September that year he was ordered to arrest Robert Leyburn. In 1326 he supported Roger Mortimer (qv) and Isabella against the king and was rewarded with more grants in northern England.
On 27 February 1331 he was made justiciar of Ireland by Edward III and arrived in the lordship on 3 June. His appointment was due more to his reputation for military prowess in Scotland than to any administrative talents he might have possessed. On the same day Lucy became justiciar, William de Burgh (qv), earl of Ulster, was created lieutenant of Ireland. Responsibilities were divided between the two on regional rather than functional lines: Lucy in Munster and Leinster, and de Burgh in Ulster and Connacht. Lucy was ordered to enforce the resumption of all grants made during Mortimer's regency, an order that especially threatened the earls of Desmond and Ormond. An abrasive character, he refused to brook disobedience from Maurice fitz Thomas FitzGerald (qv), earl of Desmond, though he was able to work out a modus vivendi with James Butler (qv), 1st earl of Ormond. After confiscating Trim, he summoned a parliament to Dublin in July 1331, which Desmond and William de Bermingham (qv) failed to attend; parliament was prorogued till the following month at Kilkenny. There he offered conditional pardons to Desmond and de Bermingham but issued stern warnings that he would no longer accept their discontent.
His moderation was short-lived, however; on 16 August he arrested Desmond at Limerick and imprisoned him in Dublin castle on 7 October. Between the arrest and the imprisonment, and during the spring of 1332, he took inquisitions in Munster regarding Desmond's actions. These inquiries produced the fabulous conspiracy to make the earl king of Ireland and the planned massacre of the officials of the administration. The jurors also included de Bermingham as part of the plot. In February 1332, after spending some time in the midlands, Lucy arrested de Bermingham and his son, Walter (qv), who were actively fomenting trouble against the revocation order and Lucy's justiciarship. On 11 July, after a failed escape attempt, the justiciar ordered the execution of William de Bermingham. With the outbreak of hostilities against Scotland, Lucy was recalled on 3 December 1332. Though he was severe, his time in office may be viewed as a success; Desmond was suitably chastened and remained relatively quiescent for the next ten years, and the crown finally showed that any revival of the antagonisms of the 1320s would not be tolerated.
In March 1333 Lucy led a raid into Scotland; during 1334–7 he was warden of Berwick; and in October 1335 he was appointed justiciar of Berwick and all English lands in Scotland. Between 1336 and his death he led almost annual expeditions in Scotland, and in November 1337 he raised the siege of Edinburgh castle.
He married Isabel (or ‘Elizabeth’; the names were interchangeable at this time), whose background is unknown; they had one son, Thomas, and a daughter, Joan. He died between April and 10 June 1343.