The Recorder of Kinsale was a judicial office-holder in pre-independence

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He was the chief

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a ''magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

of the town of

Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a population of 5,281 ...

. Given the population of the town, which was rarely more than 7000, the need for a full-time judge may be questioned. However Kinsale has been a chartered town since 1334, and the charter granted by

Elizabeth 1 Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

in 1589 explicitly provided for the office of Recorder, as did that granted to Clonakilty by

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) * James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) * James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu * James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334� ...

in 1613. Lewis ''Topographical Dictionary of Ireland '' The first Recorder of Kinsale whose name is definitely known is Robert Slighe, who served in that office between approximately 1601 and 1615. Like other Irish Recorders, the Recorder of Kinsale was not a

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

appointment, but was elected by Kinsale Corporation, also known as the Court of the Hundred. In addition to presiding at criminal trials, it seems likely that he held a weekly court of

Petty session Courts of petty session, established from around the 1730s, were local courts consisting of magistrates, held for each petty sessional division (usually based on the county divisions known as hundreds) in England, Wales, and Ireland. The sessi ...

to deal with routine judicial business, as his colleague the Recorder of Clonakilty did. The Reorder was also charged with keeping the peace. Henry Bathurst, in the 1650s, was much occupied with curbing the supposed threat to public order posed by the large

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

community in County Cork, and was accused, perhaps unfairly, of being a "great persecutor" of that denomination. Due to the size of the town, the Recorder's duties were not especially onerous, and were often combined with another Government post. Henry Bathurst was also

Recorder of Cork The Recorder of Cork was a judicial office holder in pre-Independence Ireland. The Recorder was the chief magistrate of Cork city: his principal duty was to keep the peace. The office was very similar to that of the Recorder of Dublin, except that ...

, and

Sir Richard Cox, 1st Baronet Sir Richard Cox, 1st Baronet PC (25 March 1650 – 3 May 1733) was an Irish lawyer and judge. He served as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas for Ireland from 1701 to 1703, Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1703 to 1707 and as Lord Chief Justice o ...

, was also Recorder of

Clonakilty Clonakilty (; ), sometimes shortened to Clon, is a town in County Cork, Ireland. The town is located at the head of the tidal Clonakilty Bay. The rural hinterland is used mainly for dairy farming. The town's population as of 2016 was 4,592. Th ...

from 1675: he later went on to hold high judicial office, notably as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. William Rowley, the elder brother of Admiral Sir

Josias Rowley Admiral Sir Josias Rowley, 1st Baronet, (1765 – 10 January 1842), known as "The Sweeper of the Seas", was an Anglo-Irish naval officer who commanded the campaign that captured the French Indian Ocean islands of Réunion and Mauritius in 18 ...

, who was Recorder from 1796 to 1812, combined that position with the office of Commissioner of Customs for Kinsale, and also sat in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fr ...

as member for

Like all Irish Recorderships, the office was abolished by the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independ ...

in 1924.

Courts of Justice Act 1924 The Courts of Justice Act 1924 ( ga, Acht Cúirteanna Breithiúnais, 1924) was an Act of the Oireachtas (No. 10 of 1924) that established a new system of courts for the Irish Free State (now Ireland or the Republic of Ireland). Among the new c ...

s.51

List of Recorders of Kinsale (incomplete)

*1601 Robert Slighe *1630s William Galway (died 1637)O'Hart Vol 2 *1655 Henry Bathurst (also

) *1681

(also Recorder of Clonakilty, later Lord Chancellor of Ireland) *1796 William Rowley (also MP for Kinsale) *1832 Richard Connell

Sources

*''Burke's Peerage'' 107th Edition Delaware 2003 *Fuller, Abraham and Holms, Thomas ''A Compendious View of Some Extraordinary Sufferings of the Quakers in Ireland'' 2nd Edition Dublin 1731 *Lewis, Samuel ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland'' London S. Lewis and Co 1837 *O'Hart, John ''Pedigrees of Ireland'' 5th Edition 1892 *''Warrant issued by Robert Slighe, Recorder of Kinsale 7 July 1615''

Notes

{{reflist Political office-holders in pre-partition Ireland People from Kinsale