“A first woman magistrate retires”
Isle of Man Weekly Times, Thursday 14th March, 1974
One of the first four women in the Isle of Man to be appointed a Justice of the Peace is retiring this month. She is Mrs. Edith Greenfield who has given 25 years of service. It will not, however, be a complete break from the work which she has found utterly absorbing and at all times interesting, as going on the Supplemental List she remains on the Licensing Bench for a further year.
The Licensing Bench, under the chairmanship of the High-Bailiff, must consist of eligible members – those without any connection at all with the licensing trade – not even a shareholder.
“They are not always easy to find – and the work of this Bench is getting heavier all the time,” says Mrs. Greenfield, who was a member of the 1961 Licensing Commission.
Today there are 18 women Justices of the Peace in the Isle of Man and two – Mrs. Annie Bridson and Mrs. Gwen Teare – on the Supplemental List. Mrs. Greenfield is the first of the original four women J.P’s to retire – Miss Doris Larsen, Miss Margaret Davies and Miss Frances Davidson continue to serve, and Dr. Clucas of Port Erin died.
“I am going to miss the work undoubtedly, but I think have sufficient interests to compensate,” says Mrs. Greenfield, pointing out that being a Justice of the Peace means not only “trying people but also helping them”.
It was in 1948 that Edith Greenfield was asked to do probation work. There was no probation officer then and she did the work on a voluntary basis, with no pay, only an allowance for petrol. It was what she describes as a “bombshell” when she was first asked to become a magistrate. “I had some court experience in my probation work. The new Children and Young Persons Act of 1949 stipulated that there must be one woman on the Bench.”
So Mrs. Greenfield began what at first she found “a difficult job”. Then Clerk of the Court always advises on the legal side and the existing magistrates were very helpful. Sworn in by the late Demster Farrant, the four women began their work in various districts.
There has always been plenty of work out of court – certifications, witnessing signatures, signing adoptions and of course, studying reports and Acts. In more recent years there have been lectures for J.P.’s and “very good they are” says Mrs. Greenfield.
At the age of 62, Justices have to retire automatically from the Juvenile Bench to which they are appointed for three years at a time. Mrs. Greenfield missed this side of the work but agrees there should be an age limit. In adult courts the Justices are on a monthly rota and are likely to be called at any time.
“It has all been most interesting but not such hard work as some mainland J.P.s have to do” says Mrs. Greenfield, whose second daughter Helen is now a J.P. in Portsmouth and sits a whole day every week dealing with some very different cases from those we get in the Isle of Man.
“Teacher training gave me my first insight into child psychology I suppose”. Mrs. Greenfield was always interested in people and in the life of the community and continues to be.
Edith Greenfield, a South Wales vicar’s daughter, trained as a teacher before her marriage. She came with her husband Tom, to live in the Island in 1931 when Mr. Greenfield was appointed Water Engineer to the Douglas Corporation. With them came their four young children who have always regarded themselves as Manx.
Keenly interested in Music, and in Badminton and Tennis, when her family started going to school Mrs. Greenfield widened her outside interests.
“I was fortunate in that my husband agreed with this,” she recalls. She became a member of the Jane Crookall Committee in 1934 and is still a member of their Comforts Committee today. She was a founder member of the Isle of Man Ladies’ Luncheon Club.
With the outbreak of war she joined the Red Cross Detachment and was a very active member throughout. Today she is the officer for the Members’ group being responsible for the executive committee for the various groups which include the trolley shops, the Darby and Joan Club and so on. “We have had a lot of new residents willing to help, they are very good.” Mrs. Greenfield is on the panel of the vital Escort Service, travelling with patients to all parts of the United Kingdom.
Widowed in 1960, Mrs. Greenfield moved four years ago from the large family house in Cronkbourne Road to a smaller bungalow home at Port-e-Chee Avenue, where she is happily settled with a garden in which she loves to potter – “I wouldn’t call myself a gardener”.
She maintains her interest in music, plays a little bridge and has many friends. A founder vice-president to Lady Cowley of the Inner Wheel Club of Douglas in 1948, she is at present busily engaged on writing a history of the Club. The Women’s Section of the Royal British Legion is another great interest and she has been a member since it was started in the Isle of Man by the late Mrs. Rose Farrant. Today she is chairman of the Douglas branch and enjoying it.
She keeps closely in touch with her family – Margaret in St Helens, Helen in Portsmouth and Rose in Cheam. Son David is in Zambia, an electrical engineer with a mining company.
There are nine grand-children and Mrs. Greenfield visits her family about twice a year.
An active member of All Saint’s Church, where she worships regularly, Mrs. Greenfield chaired the Women’s group who were largely responsible for raising the monies for the new church. It was a great achievement, she feels, to establish a new church free of debt but says: “People must have been sick of us with our many efforts to raise money, but it was worth it.”
Although belying the age which automatically brings retirement as a Justice of the Peace, Edith Greenfield does not resist – “It is right that younger people should come along.”
Edith Greenfield has certainly contributed to the life of the community – as her late husband did. She says that one of her happiest moments in the Island of her adoption was when a plaque was placed by the Douglas Corporation in his memory on the plant at Glencrutchery Road – and the adjoining road named “Greenfield Road”.
Mr. Greenfield was with the Corporation until 1949. He became engineer to the Island’s Water Board, retiring in 1959, a year before his death.
The Greenfields 