Ufford (Offord), Sir Robert of (d. 1298), justiciar of Ireland, came from Ufford in Suffolk. He first appears as a member of the household of the Lord Edward in Wales in 1257. He accompanied Edward to Gascony in July 1261 and again in January 1264. He was sent to Ireland on Edward's business in September 1268 and seems to have been appointed justiciar of Ireland almost immediately afterwards. His first term as chief governor (from about September 1268 to Michaelmas 1270 – though a deputy was in place from 6 March 1270) was concerned with the rancorous dispute between Archbishop Fulk de Sandford (qv) and the citizens of Dublin over the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts, and with the turmoil in Connacht. In 1269, during a lull in hostilities with Áed O'Connor (qv) (d. 1274), he began laying the foundations for a royal castle at Roscommon. Having earlier taken the crusader's oath with the Lord Edward, Ufford accompanied him to the Holy Land in 1270. After returning to England he was employed in a variety of administrative posts: in 1274 he acted as a commissioner for the hundred enquiry in Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk, and in 1276 he was referred to as the justiciar of Chester.
Ufford was reappointed justiciar of Ireland on 17 June 1276, following the resignation of Geoffrey de Geneville (qv) after a disappointing tenure, and seems to have acted in that capacity from Michaelmas that year until Michaelmas 1281. In many respects Ufford was a very effective chief governor; his military campaigns suffered few, if any, setbacks, and he initiated an aggressive governmental policy towards the existence of liberties – partially autonomous lordships outside the normal jurisdiction of the Dublin administration. In a letter of 1277 (or late 1276), he reported to the king that the Irish were offering 7,000 marks for a grant of the English common law; he was apparently instructed by the king to seek a larger amount. The negotiations continued but ultimately came to nothing.
Soon after his arrival in Ireland, Ufford began to deal with the chronic problems in Wicklow. Before Michaelmas 1277, having provided for the defences of south Dublin and Wicklow, he led an expedition, accompanied by Thomas de Clare (qv) and a number of other magnates, against the Irish at Glenmalure, and succeeded where two previous royal armies had been defeated. During the following two years (1278–9) he spent a great deal of time in Connacht, where he lavished a huge sum on the building of Roscommon castle, and he strengthened the existing castles at Rindown and Athlone. In September 1280 he concluded an agreement with Cathal Ruad O'Connor (qv) to hold two and a half cantreds in Roscommon and Sligo. In 1279, 1280, and 1281 he marched against the Irish of Offaly and Leix, and early in 1281 he led a successful campaign in Thomond. In 1276 he confiscated Agnes de Vescy's lordship of Kildare for encroaching on the jurisdiction of the crown; this act marked the beginning of a long-running battle with the liberties of Leinster. Writing to the king in 1277 he complained vehemently of the problems posed to royal government by the existence of these jurisdictions. Kildare's status was restored in 1278 after the imposition of a fine and Ufford then attempted to assert the government's jurisdiction over the liberty of Trim, threatened the forfeiture of Wexford, and by 1280 had stripped the Verdon lordship of Meath of its liberty status.
Ufford's removal from the justiciarship in 1281 was occasioned by severe ill health and thereafter he seems to have gone into retirement. He died in 1298, shortly before 9 September. His first marriage, to Mary (d. 1280), produced one son, Robert, who became the father of Robert, earl of Suffolk, and Ralph Ufford (qv); he also had one son with his second wife, Joan.