Recorder of Dublin
The Recorder of Dublin was a
judicial office holder in pre-Independence Ireland
.
Functions and duties of the Recorder
The
mediator in conflicts between the central government and Dublin Corporation
.
Although he held a full-time judicial office, the Recorder, unlike the High Court judges, was not debarred from sitting in the
English House of Commons, although an objection was made to this in 1832, on the grounds that a judge should not sit in Parliament and a minority of MPs supported making the Recordership incompatible with a seat in the Commons. Nonetheless, Sir Frederick Shaw, the Recorder in question, continued in his dual role for many years, until he stepped down as MP in 1848. There was apparently no objection to his combining the office of Recorder with that of a Law Officer: Sir Richard Ryves, Recorder of Dublin 1680-1685, was a King's Serjeant
for part of the same period.
The Recorder was not a
Corporation of Dublin, although he could be dismissed by the Crown. There is an interesting account of the election of Dudley Hussey in 1784, when he defeated three rival candidates for office.[1] He was only one of two officials of Dublin Corporation who were elected, the other being the Clerk of the Tholsel.[2]
History of the Office
Thomas Cusack is named as Recorder of Dublin in 1488. He had clearly held the office in the previous year, when like all the Irish judiciary, he had supported the attempt by the
Tudor dynasty. His disgrace was short-lived: Sir Richard Edgcumbe, who administered the oath of fealty to him, dined with him "with great cheer".[3]
There is then a gap on the records until the sixteenth century, when the office of Recorder was held by Thomas Fitzsimon in 1547, and by his son-in-law James Stanihurst, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, in 1564. The last Recorder was Sir Thomas O'Shaughnessy. The Recordership was abolished in 1924 and the Recorder's functions transferred to the new Circuit Court.[4]
List of holders of the office of Recorder of Dublin 1487-1924 (incomplete)
Holders of the position have included:
- 1487/8 Thomas Cusack [5]
- 1547 Thomas Fitzsimon [2]
- 1564 James Stanihurst (d. 1573)[2]
- 1573 Henry Burnell[6]
- 1599 Patrick Fitzgerald[7]
- 1601 Sir Battle of Kinsale)
- c. 1603 Roman Catholic[8]
- 1604–1613 Richard Bolton[9]
- 1620s–1626 James Barry, 1st Baron Barry of Santry[10]
- 1626-1634 Nathaniel Catelyn
- 1634-1660 John Bysse
- 1661–1672 Sir William Davys,[11] later Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.
- 1672 Elisha Leighton[12]
- 1680-1685 Sir Richard Ryves
- 1685-1687 Colonel Garrett Dillon
- 1687 Sir John Barnewall[13]
- 1690–1693 Thomas Coote[11][14]
- 1693-1695 Nehemiah Donnellan
- 1695–1701 Sir William Handcock[15]
- 1701–1714 John Forster[15]
- 1733–1750 Eaton Stannard
- 1751-1756 Thomas Morgan
- 1756–1766 James Grattan (father of Henry Grattan)[16]
- 1766–1784 Samuel Bradstreet[12]
- 1784–1785 Dudley Hussey[17]
- 1785–1794 Denis George, later Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland)[18]
- 1794–1820 William Walker[19] Elected 30 May 1794[20] Died 31 December 1820
- 1822–1828 Sir Jonas Greene
- 1828–1876 Sir Frederick Shaw[21]
- 1876–1905 Sir Frederick Falkiner (1831–1908)
- 1905–1924 Sir Thomas O'Shaughnessy (1850–1933), the last Recorder of Dublin
References
- F. Elrington Ball (1926) The Judges in Ireland, 1221-1921
- Dictionary of National Biography (DNB)
- Hansard's Parliamentary Debates 1831
- Jacqueline R. Hill (1997) From Patriots to Unionists: Dublin Civic Politics and Irish Protestant Patriotism, 1660-1840
- The Voyage of Sir Richard Edgcumbe into Ireland in 1488
Sources
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Stanyhurst, Richard". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
Notes
- ^ Hibernian Magazine 1784.
- ^ a b c . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- ^ Voyage of Sir Richard Edgcumbe into Ireland in 1488
- ^ Courts of Justice Act 1924 s.51.
- ^ Voyage of Sir Richard Edgcumbe into Ireland in 1488.
- ^ Ball vol. I p. 223.
- ^ Ball vol. I p. 227.
- ^ . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- ^ . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- ^ . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- ^ a b Hill p. 391.
- ^ a b His DNB article.
- ^ Ball vol. I p. 365.
- ^ Ball vol. II p. 61.
- ^ a b Hill p. 392.
- ^ Hill p. 321.
- ^ Sylvanus, Urban (1785). The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. part II. London: John Nichols. p. 1007.
- George Baronets
- ^ "East of the Great North Road". Archived from the original on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 5 June 2009.
- ^ By Paymaster Captain Reginald P Walker published 1939.
- ^ "The Shaw Family and Bushy Park, Dublin". Archived from the original on 7 October 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2009.