Netterville, Richard (c.1545–1607), lawyer, was second son of Luke Netterville of Dowth, Co. Meath, second justice of the queen's bench, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Luttrell (qv) of Luttrellstown, Co. Dublin. In the 1570s Netterville was one of three lawyers who assumed the leadership of the opposition to the government's greatly increased demands for supply (or ‘cess’, as the Palesmen pointedly called it) and, in particular, the proposal of Lord Deputy Sidney (qv) to compound the various exceptional exactions of which cess was composed into a regular annual payment.
A crisis was reached in the autumn of 1576 when the Palesmen refused to pay another cess and rejected composition on the grounds that it was an unconstitutional innovation. Netterville, Barnaby Scurlocke, and Henry Burnell (qv) were appointed to represent their case to the queen on behalf of the ‘commonwealth’, and in February 1577 the three left for England without licence. Despite their disobedience, Elizabeth at first listened sympathetically to their argument. However, a vigorous defence by Sidney, in which he accused Netterville of sedition and warned that concessions to the Palesmen would destroy his entire programme, resulted in their being reexamined by the privy council, arrested, and imprisoned in the Tower for questioning the royal prerogative. At this point the Palesmen, realising they had gone too far in upholding their privileges, agreed to a compromise and the three lawyers were released, having conceded the viceroy's right to impose cess and substituted complaints against the innumerable abuses of the system for their original denial of its legality. The outcome, however, was seen as a victory for the Palesmen, Sidney lost political support and the confidence of the queen, and both he and his policies were replaced in 1578.
For some time, Netterville and Burnell were recognised as the chief spokesmen of the Palesmen in negotiating supply arrangements with Sidney's successors. In 1581 the under-treasurer, Sir Henry Wallop (qv), complained that their influence made it impossible for the government to obtain any favourable decision from the country. Netterville's standing among catholics was further enhanced by the victimisation of the family after the Baltinglass and Nugent rebellions, in which two of his brothers lost their lives. In 1584–5 he and Burnell served on a joint committee to devise a ‘new composition’ to provide for the household of the lord deputy, Sir John Perrot (qv), in preparation for the meeting of parliament, and both were returned as knights for the county of Dublin.
Netterville was particularly prominent in the group of Palesmen in the commons who assumed the name of ‘commonwealthmen’ and led the opposition to the bill for the suspension of Poynings’ law; he was singled out for punishment after the second session and committed to Dublin castle from 3 July to 11 September 1685. There were further satisfactory negotiations with Perrot about composition after the parliament ended, but Netterville's influence declined after Perrot left Ireland in 1588. In October 1589 the secretary of state, Sir Geoffrey Fenton (qv), included him in a list of suspected men in Ireland, and this opinion was repeated in 1591 by the lord deputy, Fitzwilliam (qv), who believed that he harboured seminary priests. Netterville and Burnell acted as legal advisers to the earl of Kildare (qv), and in 1597 there were reports that they had undervalued part of the earl's land and bought it for themselves, but no charges appear to have been brought against them.
Netterville came into prominence again after the O'Neill war when the lord deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester (qv), set about the enforcement of religious conformity. In 1605 mandates were issued to leading Dublin citizens, requiring them to attend divine service on Sundays and holy days, and Netterville joined a number of other lawyers in preparing a petition to the lord deputy in which they demanded that catholics should have the right to practise their religion. The group, which was led by Sir Patrick Barnewall (qv) and included Henry Burnell, was brought before the Irish council and committed to prison pending trial in the court of castle chamber, where fines were imposed. Netterville was exempted from imprisonment on grounds of age and confined to his house in the country instead. Here he continued to attend mass, and is said to have drawn a curtain between himself and the celebrant so that he could swear that he had not seen a priest during his confinement.
Richard Netterville died 5 September 1607, and was buried at Donabate, Co. Dublin. He and his wife Alison, daughter of Sir John Plunket of Dunsoghly, chief justice of the queen's bench in Ireland, had no children, and he was succeeded by his nephew Nicholas (son of his elder brother John), who was raised to the peerage as Viscount Netterville in 1622.