Sir Jonas Greene

Sir Jonas Greene (1767-1828) was an Irish barrister and magistrate, who held the office of Recorder of Dublin. He was born in Dublin, the eldest son of Richard Greene. He was called to the Bar, although few details of his legal practice seem to survive. In a letter he wrote to Dublin Castle in 1823 he claimed that his private practice had been extremely lucrative; in pleading for an increase in salary, he referred to the serious financial loss he had suffered in accepting an official position. Recorder of Dublin In 1822 he was made Recorder of Dublin and knighted. The Recorder was the chief magistrate for Dublin city, with responsibility for keeping the peace. The office was an onerous one and was generally agreed to have a heavier workload than a High Court judge. Greene from the available evidence seems to have been a particularly diligent and hard-working official. A debate on the duties of the Recorder of Dublin in the English House of Commons, held three years after his death, revealed that he held two sessions of his court every week, with extra sessions as the workload required. Within a little over a year of taking up office he was writing to Henry Goulburn, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, asking for an increase in salary appropriate to the very heavy workload, and complaining that his pay was already in arrears.