Jonah Barrington (judge)

Jonah Barrington (1760 – 1834) was an Irish judge, politician, and writer, best known for his witty and often unreliable memoirs, Personal Sketches of His Own Time. Born in Abbeyleix, County Laois, he pursued a legal career and was admitted to the Irish bar in 1788. He served as a Member of Parliament for Tuam from 1790 to 1798 and for Banagher from 1801 to 1803, initially supporting the Irish Patriot Party.

Barrington was appointed a judge of the High Court of Admiralty in Ireland in 1798. However, he was later removed from office in 1830 following a parliamentary inquiry that found him guilty of misappropriating public funds. This impeachment was a significant event in Irish legal history.

Despite the scandal surrounding his removal, Barrington's Personal Sketches remain a valuable, if somewhat biased, source of information about Irish society and politics in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They are filled with anecdotes and colorful descriptions of notable figures and events. However, historians caution against accepting all of his accounts at face value, as he was known to embellish and even fabricate stories. His other writings include Historic Memoirs of Ireland and The Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation. He died in Versailles, France, in 1834, having spent his later years in exile.