JEFFREYS, GEORGE, 1ST BARON JEFFREYS OF WEM, sixth son of John Jeffreys, Acton, near Wrexham, Denbighshire, and Margaret, dau. of Sir Thomas Ireland, Kt, Beausay, near Warrington, Lancs.; b. 1648; at Shrewsbury Sch., adm. 1654, aged 10 (sic), and then at St. Paul’s Sch.; adm. 1661 (Howell, State Trials, x, 299); Trinity Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 15 Mar 1662/3; adm. Inner Temple 19 May 1663, called to bar 22 Nov 1668, Bencher Jan 1678; Common Serjeant, City of London 17 Mar 1671; knighted 14 Sep 1677; Recorder of London 22 Oct 1678 – 2 Dec 1680, when he resigned after being reprimanded at bar of House of Commons for obstructing petitions for the assembly of Parliament; Solicitor-Gen. to Duke of York Jan 1679; Chief Justice of Chester 27 Apr 1680-3; Serjeant-at-Law 12 May 1680; created baronet 17 Nov 1681; active in obtaining the “quo warranto” against the City and in the prosecution of Lord Russell; Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench 29 Sep 1683 – Sep 1685; Privy Councillor 4 Oct 1683; presided at trials of Algernon Sidney and Titus Oates; created Baron Jeffreys of Wem 15 May 1685; held the “bloody assize” in the West of England after the suppression of Monmouth’s rebellion; Lord Chancellor 28 Sep 1685 – 8 Dec 1688; chief of the commission for inspecting ecclesiastical affairs 1686; one of the seven Privy Councillors who regulated the municipal corporations 1687; Lord Lieut., Shropshire, from 11 Aug 1687; Lord Lieut., Buckinghamshire 12 Nov 1687 – 4 Apr 1689; a member of the council of five lords in the absence of James II from London; arrested in disguise at Wapping Dec 1688 and conveyed to Tower of London; in Jan 1687 he gave £12 to the Dean and Chapter “for the education of two poore schollers at the Schoole in Westminster”; m. 1st, 23 May 1667 Sarah, dau. of Rev. Thomas Neesham, Rector of Stoke D’Abernon, Surrey; m. 2nd, Jun 1679 Ann, widow of Sir John Jones, Kt, Fonmon, Glamorgan, and dau. of Sir Thomas Bludworth, Kt, Lord Mayor of London; d. while a prisoner in Tower of London, 18 Apr 1689. DNB.
Taxonomy
Code
Scope note(s)
Source note(s)
- https://collections.westminster.org.uk/index.php/school