Richard Wilson Greene

Richard Wilson Greene PC, KC (1791–1861) was an Irish judge.

He was born in Dublin, the son of Sir Jonas Greene, who was Recorder of Dublin from 1822 to 1828, and his wife Marianne Hitchcock. He graduated from the University of Dublin, where he was auditor of the College Historical Society. He was called to the Bar in 1814 and became King's Counsel in 1830.

As a young barrister he attended (without a brief) the hearing of R. v Waller O'Grady, a much publicised case of quo warranto concerning the power of patronage of the Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, who sought to appoint his younger son to the office of Clerk of the Pleas in the Court of Exchequer. Greene co-wrote an account of the case which he published and which gained him some favourable attention.

In 1831 he was the first person to be appointed to the new position of Law Adviser to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, which ranked below the two senior law officers, but was nonetheless a very onerous Crown office. The choice of Greene was an interesting one since he was generally regarded as a political opponent of the Government of the day.

He became Solicitor-General for Ireland in 1842 and was Attorney-General for Ireland briefly in 1846. He was raised to the Bench as Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) in 1852 and served till shortly before his death in 1861. He married Elizabeth Wilson, daughter of Thomas Wilson of Fulford, near York in 1819, and took her surname as well as his own.

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