Woulfe was born at Tiermaclane House, Ennis, County Clare in 1787, to Stephen Woulfe and Honora Woulfe, daughter of Michael Macnamara. His father was a distant cousin of the great general James Wolfe; his mother was a sister of Admiral James Macnamara. Stephen was a younger son, and the family estates passed to his elder brother Peter. He was educated at the lay college at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, before becoming one of the first Catholics to attend Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied law, before being called to the Bar in 1814. He was elected Member of Parliament for Cashel at a by-election in 1835, and held the seat until his resignation from the House of Commons in 1838. He showed great zeal in the fight for Catholic Emancipation; but incurred the hostility of Daniel O'Connell by arguing that the Government was entitled to have a veto on the appointment of Catholic bishops. O'Connell subjected Woulfe to public ridicule, asking "are the sheep to be left to the mercy of this wolf " ? Woulfe's views endeared him to the Government and this, together with his undoubted legal ability ensured his rapid promotion.
Family
He was married to Frances Hamill, daughter of Roger Hamill of Dowth, County Meath, and had a son and a daughter. His son Stephen Roland Woulfe inherited the family estates from his uncle Peter in 1865. His grandson Edward Sheil, the son of his daughter Mary Leonora Woulfe, who married Sir Justin Sheil was an Irish Nationalist MP. Lady Sheil was the author of Glimpses of Manners and Life in Persia.
According to Elrington Ball, the Court of Exchequer at this time had the heaviest workload of any of the Irish Courts, and its Chief Baron needed a strong physical constitution to cope with the burden of office. Despite his undoubted legal ability, Woulfe's chronic ill-health made him a very poor choice for the office, and indeed he did not seek it: Maziere Brady and Edward Pennefather were his own suggested candidates. He finally yielded, though, to his party's pleas to take office and, in Ball's phrase, "the job killed him in two years". He went to Baden-Baden in hope of a cure, but his health did not improve, and he died there on 2 July 1840.
Character and appearance
Woulfe was described as a man "careless of attire, awkward and angular in his movements, but very effective in his utterances; no profound lawyer, but a man of quick and shrewd observation".
