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.
In 1633, he received a Royal pardon, on condition that he did not return to legal practice in England, although he was permitted to continue practice in Ireland. In 1644, he published his Breviate, a 100-page pamphlet in defence of his actions.
Politics
He entered politics, and sat in the Irish House of Commons as MP for Lifford in the Parliaments of 1634–35 and 1639–49. He was a friend and client of the wealthy and influential young nobleman James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, who granted him the use of Kilcooly Abbey in County Tipperary for his dwelling. He was also granted lands near Kells, County Meath.
He was also befriended by other influential figures in Ireland, including James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh: but his hope of further career advancement was destroyed by the arrival in Ireland of the new Lord Lieutenant, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who despised Alexander and described him with contempt as "a scurvy puritan". Strafford, who became almost all-powerful in Ireland, and who was well aware that Alexander had been professionally disgraced in England, vetoed his appointment as an extra judge of assize in 1637.
The ostensible reason was that only Sir Maurice Eustace, the King's Serjeant, was qualified to act as an extra judge, but Strafford's references to Eustace as a "man of integrity" can also be read as an attack on Alexander's character. He refused him leave to go to England, and when Alexander went anyway he was imprisoned in the Fleet Prison, nor following his release was he able to return to Ireland until after Strafford's downfall. Given the enmity between the two men, it is not surprising that Alexander was active in the impeachment and subsequent attainder of Strafford in 1641.
Civil War
He returned briefly to Ireland after Strafford's death, but on the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 went back to England. He was an active Royalist, and attempted to raise troops to subdue the rebels; at the same time, he was among those who urged the King, if necessary, to make an alliance with the Irish Confederacy.
For attempting to arrange this alliance he was briefly imprisoned by Parliament in 1643, and on his release, he went abroad. In 1650, he was in Brussels in the service of Charles II, and was active in raising money for his cause. He was still in the city in March 1653 but returned to Ireland in 1655.
He made his peace with the new regime, and acquired an estate in County Westmeath; but in view of the rewards he received in 1660, (even if, as he complained, they were not overly generous), there is no reason to doubt that he remained a Royalist at heart.