Jerome Alexander

Sir Jerome Alexander (c.1585–1670) was an English-born barrister, judge and politician, who spent much of his career in Ireland (after he had been professionally ruined in England), and became a substantial Irish landowner. He was a noted benefactor of Trinity College Dublin. As a judge, he was so ruthless in securing guilty verdicts in criminal cases, and in imposing the death penalty on the guilty party, that for many years after his death "to be Alexandered" was an Irish synonym for being hanged. Early career His precise date of birth is uncertain, but he was stated in 1637 to be several years older than Sir Maurice Eustace, who was born in the early 1590s. He was born at Gressenhall, Norfolk, the eldest son of Jerome Alexander senior of Thorpland, an employee of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel; the younger Jerome was also employed for a time as steward and bailiff to the Earl, and remained on friendly terms with him in later life. Elrington Ball states that the Alexander family were of Jewish origin. He was educated at Aylsham before attending Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1609. He entered Furnivall's Inn and then proceeded to Lincoln's Inn in 1617, and was called to the bar in 1623. Disgrace His legal career in England was destroyed by a finding of professional misconduct against him: unusually, this did not arise from his services to a client. He was, unlike many barristers, very litigious on his own behalf, and, in 1626, the Star Chamber found him guilty of tampering with evidence in one of his own lawsuits; he was disbarred, fined and given a prison sentence. He moved to Ireland, where he entered the King's Inn and began to practice at the Irish Bar. It is unclear if the Benchers of the King's Inn were aware from the beginning of his criminal record; if not, they certainly learned of it within the next few years.