Recorder of Kinsale

The recorder of Kinsale was a judicial office-holder in pre-independence Ireland. He was the chief magistrate of the town of Kinsale. Given the population of the town, which has fluctuated between 5000 and 7000 over the years,[1] 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 in 1589 explicitly provided for the office of Recorder, as did that granted to Clonakilty by James I in 1613.[2] The first recorder of Kinsale whose name is definitely known is Robert Slighe, who served in that office between approximately 1601 and 1615.[3]

Like other Irish recorders, the recorder of Kinsale was not a Crown appointment, but was elected by Kinsale Corporation, also known as the Court of the Hundred.[4] They could annul the election, as they did that of John Dowdall in 1692.[5]

In addition to presiding at criminal trials, it seems likely that he held a weekly court of Petty session to deal with routine judicial business, as his colleague the recorder of Clonakilty did.[2] 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 community in County Cork, and was accused, perhaps unfairly, of being a "great persecutor" of that religious denomination.[6]

Due to the size of the town, the recorder's duties were not especially onerous: the salary was a modest 15 shillings a year. The duties of the recorder were often combined with another Government post. Henry Bathurst was also Recorder of Cork, as was William Worth. Sir Richard Cox, 1st Baronet, was also Recorder of Clonakilty from 1675: he later went on to hold high judicial office, notably as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. William Rowley, who was the elder brother of Admiral Sir Josias Rowley, and 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 as member for Kinsale.[7]

Sir Richard Cox, 1st Baronet, Recorder of Kinsale and later Lord Chancellor

Like all Irish recorderships within their jurisdiction, the office was abolished by the Irish Free State in 1924.[8]

  1. ^ The population was just under 5300 as of 2016, although it had been 7000 before the Great Irish Famine
  2. ^ a b Lewis Topographical Dictionary of Ireland
  3. ^ "The Lord Courcy's son's passports to some of his father's followers, July 7, 1615: Warrant upon the humble suit of Robert Slighe, Recorder of Kinsale Copy in the National Library of Ireland
  4. ^ Lewis Topograpical Dictionary of Ireland
  5. ^ Council Book of Kinsale Corporation
  6. ^ Fuller and Holms p. 101.
  7. ^ Burkes' Peerage Vol. 3 p. 3421.
  8. ^ Courts of Justice Act 1924 s.51.