George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys
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George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys of Wem, PC (15 May 1645 – 18 April 1689), also known as "The Hanging Judge", became notable during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor (and serving as Lord High Steward in certain instances).
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[edit] Early years and education
Jeffreys was born at the family estate of Acton Hall, Wrexham in Wales, the sixth son of John and Margaret Jeffreys. His grandfather, John Jeffreys (died 1622) had been Chief Justice of the Anglesey circuit of the Great Sessions and his father, another John Jeffreys (1608–1691) was a Royalist during the English Civil War and fought for Charles I but was reconciled to The Protectorate and served as a Sheriff in 1655.
His elder brothers were to become people of note; Thomas, later Sir Thomas (knighted in 1686) was to become British Consul in Spain, and William became a vicar at Holt, Wales from 1668–1675. His younger brother, James, made a good ecclesiastical career, becoming Vice-Dean of Canterbury in 1685.
George was educated at Shrewsbury School from 1652–1659, his grandfather's old school, where he was periodically tested by Philip Henry, a friend of his mother's. He attended St Paul's School, London from 1659–1661 and Westminster School, London from 1661–1662. He became an undergraduate at Trinity College Cambridge University in 1662, leaving after one year without graduating, and entering the Inner Temple for law in 1663.
[edit] Marriages
In 1667, he had married Sarah Neesham or Needham, by whom he had seven children before her death in 1678. She was the daughter of the poor vicar from Stoke d'Abernon. There's a family legend that Jeffreys planned to marry a daughter of the rich City merchant and had a secret correspondence with her, which Sarah her companion willingly attended; when the merchant discovered the plot he refused his home to Sarah and George did a noble act marrying the poor orphan.[citation needed] They married in the church of All Hallows-by-the-Tower in the City of London.
He married secondly, Anne, widow of Sir John Jones of Fonmon Castle, Glamorgan. Being only 29 at the time of her second marriage, she was described as a 'brisk young widow' and there were some rumours about her. She was the daughter of Sir Thomas Bludworth, who was the Lord Mayor of the City of London during the Great Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of 1666.
This second marriage of Jeffreys never produced a male heir, so Jeffreys' only surviving son by Sarah Needham, John (or Jacky as he was called at home), became his heir as the second Baron Jeffreys of Wem. John Jeffreys never had a son, so the male line of George Jeffreys became extinct. His descendants have come from his daughters.
[edit] Career
He embarked on a legal career in 1668, becoming a Common Serjeant of London in 1671. He was aiming for the post of Recorder, but was passed over for this in 1676 in favour of a William Dolben. He turned instead to the Court and became Solicitor General to the Duke of York and future King James II. Despite his Protestant upbringing, he found favour under the Catholic Duke of York, younger brother of Charles II of England, who would later succeed Charles as James II.
Jeffreys was knighted in 1677, became Recorder of London in 1678 when Dolben resigned, and by 1680 had become Chief Justice of Chester and Counsel for the Crown at Ludlow and Justice of the Peace for Flintshire. Charles II created him a baronet in 1681, and two years later, he was Chief Justice of the King's Bench and a member of the Privy Council.
Jeffreys became Lord Chief Justice in 1683 and presided over the trial of Algernon Sidney, who had been implicated in the Rye House Plot. Sidney was convicted and executed. James II, following his accession to the throne, named Jeffreys as Lord Chancellor in 1685, and elevated him to the peerage as Baron Jeffreys of Wem.
He presided over the "Bloody Assizes" in the autumn of 1685, at which harsh sentences were handed out to the Duke of Monmouth's followers after Monmouth's Rebellion. Nearly 200 people were hanged, and more than 800 transported to the colonies as indentured laborers. Jeffreys held the assizes in the Great Hall of Taunton Castle, current home of the Somerset county museum. He was nicknamed "the hanging judge".
In 1685, Judge Jeffreys went to Dorchester and lodged at 6 High West Street Dorchester, (now the restaurant, Judge Jeffreys). The Bloody Assizes were held in the Oak Room (now a Tea Room) of the Antelope Hotel on the 5th day of September in that year. Judge Jeffreys is said to have a secret passage from his lodgings to the Oak Room.
It was only his Anglican faith that prevented King James from making him Viscount Wrexham and Earl of Flint[1]
[edit] Death and reputation
Following the Glorious Revolution, when the Catholic King James II left for France, Jeffreys stayed in London till the last moment, being the only high legal authority in James's abandoned kingdom to perform the political duties. When the armies of William were approaching London, Jeffreys attempted to flee the country and follow the King abroad. He was captured in a public house in Wapping, now named The Town of Ramsgate. Reputedly he was disguised as a sailor, and was recognized by a surviving judicial victim. Jeffreys was in terror of the public when dragged to the Lord Mayor and then to prison "for his own safety". He begged his captors for protection from the mob.
He died of kidney disease (probably pyelonephritis) while in custody in the Tower of London on April 18, 1689. He was originally buried in the Chapel Royal of Saint Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London. In 1692 his body was moved to St Mary Aldermanbury, which was destroyed along with all traces of Jeffreys' grave in a 1941 German air raid.
Jeffreys's only son, John, succeeded to his peerage. He married a daughter of Phillip Herbert, 7th Earl of Pembroke, Charlotte. They had a daughter, named Henriette-Louise after two de Kerouaille sisters. (The more famous Louise de Kerouaille was the mistress of Charles II and the supporter of Jeffreys of the early stages of his career.)
Jeffreys's reputation today is mixed. His legal ability was undoubtedly high, and he was definitely good in all cases that required him to solve the questions of law, but not of loyalty. Some say he was a personally vengeful man. He had bitter personal and professional rivalries with Sir William Williams, whom he tried to ruin with a fine for publishing a libel. His political animus displayed during his legal career. He suffered a painful kidney disease that may well have affected his unbridled temper and added to this reputation.
In his book, The Revolution of 1688, the historian JR Jones refers to Jeffreys as "an alcoholic". Justice Antonin Scalia, in the majority opinion in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 67 (2004), wrote that "[The Framers of the Constitution] knew that judges, like other government officers, could not always be trusted to safeguard the rights of the people; the likes of the dread Lord Jeffreys were not yet too distant a memory."
[edit] Literary references
- George Jeffreys is the colleague and nemesis of Neal Stephenson's fictional protagonist Daniel Waterhouse, in his 2003 novel Quicksilver.
- The ghost of Judge Jeffreys acts as the villain in Peter S. Beagle's 1999 novel Tamsin, set in modern-day Dorset.
- "The Devil in Wig and Gown" sits in judgement over the hero near the conclusion of Arthur Conan Doyle's historical novel Micah Clarke. According to Conan Doyle in his memoirs Memories and Adventure, his conception of Jeffreys as a "fallen angel" type attracted one other novelist/writer's praise. At a dinner in 1890 Conan Doyle met Oscar Wilde, who was deeply impressed by his characterization of Jeffreys.
- A Jeffreys-like figure haunts "The Judge's House" in Bram Stoker's short story, which was influenced by two earlier, similar stories by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: "An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street" (1853), which was revised and retitled "Mr. Justice Harbottle" (1872).
- Jeffreys sentences Dr. Peter Blood, main hero of Rafael Sabatini's novel Captain Blood, for aiding wounded Monmouth rebels with transportation. During the trial he almost suffers apoplexy in reaction to his exchange with brave and quick-witted Blood.
- Jeffreys acts as a benefactor in Sabatini's short work, The Wedding Gift, and as a victim in his cruel The Remedy.
- Jeffreys plays an important role in R. D. Blackmore's historical romance, Lorna Doone, which was set during the time of the Monmouth Rebellion.
- Jeffreys presides over the trial of the murderer George Martin, in M R James' ghost story Martin's Close.
- Jefferies is referenced in passing in Patrick O'Brian's 1986 novel, The Reverse of the Medal (the novel is set in the early 19th century; Jeffrey's notoriety as a judge is given by Dr. Maturin as an example of why Captain Aubrey shouldn't blindly assume that his trial for stock fraud will be entirely fair)
- From Victor Hugo's 1869 The Man Who Laughs, set in the 17th century, chapter 2, "English legislation did not trifle in those days. It did not take much to make a man a felon. The magistrates were ferocious by tradition, and cruelty was a matter of routine. The judges of assize increased and multiplied. Jeffreys had become a breed."
- Christopher Lee plays a character based on Jeffreys in the 1970 film The Bloody Judge, also known as The Night of the Blood Monster, directed by Jess Franco.
- In George MacDonald Fraser uses his novel The Pyrates (1983), to spoof the jurist's foul mouth and bad temper by having him argue against an equally foul-mouthed prostitute in his courtroom.
- In A Tale of Two Cities, Mr. Stryver, Darnay's defense attorney during his trial for treason, has a portrait of Judge Jeffreys hanging on his office wall.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Job Charlton |
Chief Justice of Chester 1680–1684 |
Succeeded by Sir Edward Herbert |
| Preceded by Sir Fraser Pemberton |
Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench 1683–1685 |
Succeeded by Sir Edward Herbert |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by 'The Lord Guilford (Lord Keeper)' |
Lord Chancellor 1685–1688 |
Succeeded by In Commission |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by The Earl of Bridgewater |
Custos Rotulorum of Buckinghamshire 1686–1689 |
Succeeded by The Lord Wharton |
| Preceded by The Earl of Bridgewater |
Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire 1687–1689 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Bridgewater |
| Preceded by The Earl of Bradford |
Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire 1687–1689 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Bradford |
| Peerage of England | ||
| Preceded by new creation |
Baron Jeffreys of Wem 1685–1689 |
Succeeded by John Jeffreys |
| Baronetage of England | ||
| Preceded by new creation |
Baronet (of Bulstrode, Buckinghamshire) 1681–1689 |
Succeeded by John Jeffreys |
