Editing George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys

{{Short description|Welsh judge (1645–1689), aka the Hanging Judge}}
{{distinguish|text=[[George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys (British Army officer)|George Darell Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys]] (1878–1960)}}
{{redirect|The Bloody Judge|the film|The Bloody Judge (film)}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix   = [[The Right Honourable]]
|name               = The Lord Jeffreys
|native_name        = 
|native_name_lang   = 
|honorific-suffix   = [[Privy Council of England|PC]]
|image              = George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys of Wem by William Wolfgang Claret.jpg
|office             = [[Lord Chancellor]]
|term_start         = 28 September 1685
|term_end           = December 1688
|lieutenant         = 
|monarch            = 
|primeminister      = 
|predecessor        = [[Francis North, 1st Baron Guilford|The Lord Guilford]]
|successor          = In Commission
|office2             = [[Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench]]
|term_start2         = 28 September 1683
|term_end2           = 23 October 1685
|lieutenant2         = 
|monarch2            = 
|primeminister2      = 
|predecessor2        = Sir [[Francis Pemberton]]
|successor2          = Sir [[Edward Herbert (judge)|Edward Herbert]]
|birth_date         = 15 May 1645
|birth_place        = [[Acton, Wrexham|Acton]], Wrexham, Wales
|death_date         = {{death date and age|df=yes|1689|04|18|1645|05|15}}
|death_place        = [[Tower of London]], England
|restingplace       = 
|birthname          = 
|citizenship        = 
|nationality        = 
|party              = 
|otherparty         =  <!--For additional political affiliations-->
|spouse             = 
|partner            =  <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married-->
|relations          = 
|children           = 
|residence          = 
|alma_mater         = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]
|occupation         = 
|profession         = 
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'''George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys''' {{Post-nominals|list=[[Privy Council of England|PC]]}} (15 May 1645&nbsp;– 18 April 1689), also known as "the [[Hanging judge|Hanging Judge]]",<ref>{{cite web|last1=Tyler Bryant|first1=Ruth|title=George Jeffreys, first Baron Jeffreys of Wem|url=http://libguides.law.uga.edu/c.php?g=177206&p=1164803|website=Donald E. Wilkes, Jr. Collection: Chief Justice George Jeffreys|publisher=[[University of Georgia School of Law]]|access-date=22 November 2015}}</ref> was a [[Welsh people|Welsh]] judge. He became notable during the reign of [[James II of England|King James II]], rising to the position of [[Lord Chancellor]] (and serving as [[Lord High Steward]] in certain instances). His conduct as a judge was to enforce royal policy, resulting in a historical reputation for severity and bias.

== Early years and education ==
Jeffreys was born at the family estate of [[Acton, Wrexham|Acton Hall]], in [[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. His father, also John Jeffreys (1608–1691), was a [[Cavalier|Royalist]] during the [[English Civil War]], but was reconciled to the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]] and served as [[High Sheriff of Denbighshire]] in 1655.

His brothers were people of note. Thomas, later Sir Thomas (knighted in 1686), was the English [[Consul (representative)|Consul]] in Spain and a [[Order of Alcántara|Knight of Alcántara]]. William was vicar of [[Holt, Wales|Holt]], near Wrexham, from 1668 to 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 to 1659, his grandfather's old school, where he was periodically tested by [[Philip Henry]], a friend of his mother. He attended [[St Paul's School, London]], from 1659 to 1661 and [[Westminster School]], London, from 1661 to 1662. He became an undergraduate at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], in 1662, leaving after one year without graduating, and entering the [[Inner Temple]] for law in 1663.<ref>{{acad|id=JFRS662G|name=Jeffrys, George}}</ref>

== Early career ==
[[File:Portrait of Judge George Jeffreys, First Baron of Wem.jpg|left|thumb|Portrait of Judge George Jeffreys, First Baron of Wem]]

He embarked on a legal career in 1668, becoming a [[Common Serjeant of London]] in 1671. He was aiming for the post of [[Recorder of London]], but was passed over for this in 1676 in favour of [[William Dolben (judge)|William Dolben]]. He turned instead to the Court and became Solicitor General to the [[Duke of York]] and [[Duke of Albany|of Albany]] (later [[James II of England|King James II & VII]]), the younger brother of Charles II. Despite his [[Protestantism|Protestant]] upbringing, he found favour under the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] Duke.

Jeffreys distinguished himself with black humour, for example noting that two brothers convicted of stealing lead from the roof of [[St Dunstan's, Stepney|Stepney Church]] had "zeal for religion ... so great as to carry you to the top of the church", and noting that they had narrowly avoided committing a capital offence.<ref>H. Montgomery Hyde, ''Judge Jeffreys'', London, Butterworth & Co, 1948 p. 62</ref>

==Recorder of London==

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|Justice of the Peace]] for [[Flintshire]]. During the [[Popish Plot]] he was frequently on the bench which condemned numerous innocent men on the perjured evidence of [[Titus Oates]]. These condemnations were remembered against him in 1685 when he secured the conviction of Oates for his perjury at the same trials. Charles II created him a [[baronet]] in 1681, and two years later, he was [[Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales|Chief Justice of the King's Bench]] and a member of the [[Privy Council of England|Privy Council]].

==Lord Chief Justice==

Jeffreys became [[Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales|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: Jeffreys's conduct of the trial caused some unease, in particular, his ruling that while two witnesses were normally required in a treason trial, and the Crown had only one, Sidney's own writings on republicanism were a second "witness" on the ground that "to write is to act". [[John Evelyn]], meeting him at a wedding two days later, thought his riotous behaviour unbecoming to his office, especially so soon after Sidney's trial. Jeffreys's elevation was seen by many as a reward for the successful conviction of [[William Russell, Lord Russell|Lord Russell]] in connection with the same conspiracy as Sidney: Jeffreys, who had led for the prosecution at Russell's trial, replaced Sir [[Francis Pemberton]], who had presided at the same trial and made clear his doubts about Russell's guilt, much to the King's displeasure. Jeffreys conducted the prosecution with far more dignity and restraint than was usual with him, stressing to the jury that they must not convict unless they were certain of Russell's guilt.

A less well-known act of Jeffreys occurred on assize in Bristol in 1685 when he made the mayor of the city, then sitting fully robed beside him on the bench, go into the dock, and fined him £1000 for being a 'kidnapping knave'. Some Bristol traders were known at the time to kidnap their own countrymen and ship them away as [[Slavery|slaves]].<ref>Patrick Medd,"Romilly", Collins, 1968, p149.</ref>

==Lord Chancellor==

[[File:George Jeffreys.jpg|thumb|George Jeffreys was named [[Lord Chancellor]] and created [[Baron Jeffreys]] of Wem in 1685.]]

James II, following his accession to the throne, named Jeffreys as [[Lord Chancellor]] in 1685, and elevated him to the [[Peerage of England|peerage]] as [[Baron Jeffreys]] of [[Wem]]. In 1687 he was appointed [[Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire]] and of [[Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire|Buckinghamshire]].<ref name=compeerage>{{cite book|title=The Complete Peerage, Volume VII|year=1929|publisher=St Catherine's Press|pages=83–84}}</ref> His first major trial in James' reign was that of [[Titus Oates]]. While there is no doubt of Oates' guilt, Jeffreys's conduct was no more decorous than usual; the latter part of the trial has been described as such an exchange of insults between Jeffreys and Oates as to make it doubtful if proceedings could continue.<ref>Kenyon, J. P.  ''The Popish Plot''  Phoenix Press reissue 2000 p. 289</ref> Unable to impose the death penalty, Jeffreys and his colleagues apparently tried to achieve the same result by sentencing Oates to a series of whippings so savage that he might well have died; although, as Kenyon remarks, it was arguably no more than he deserved.<ref>''Popish Plot'' p. 289</ref> Jeffreys was much criticised for his conduct of the trial of the aged and much-respected clergyman [[Richard Baxter]], but these criticisms must be treated with caution since the actual records have disappeared and all the surviving accounts of the trial were written by partisans of Baxter.

==The Bloody Assizes==
{{main article|Bloody Assizes}}
Jeffreys's historical notoriety comes from his actions in 1685, after [[Monmouth Rebellion|Monmouth's Rebellion]]. Jeffreys was sent to the [[West Country]] in the autumn of 1685 to conduct the trials of captured rebels. The centre of the trials was Taunton, Somerset. Estimates of the numbers executed for treason have been given as high as 700; however, a more likely figure is between 160 and 170 of 1,381 defendants found guilty of treason. Although Jeffreys has been traditionally accused of vindictiveness and harsh sentencing, none of the convictions has been considered improper, except for that of [[Alice Lisle]] tried at [[Winchester]]. Furthermore, as the law of the time required a sentence of death for treason, Jeffreys was required to impose it, leaving the king the option of commuting the sentence under the [[Royal Prerogative of Mercy|prerogative of mercy]]. Arguably, it was [[James II of England|James II]]'s refusal to use the prerogative as much as was customary for the time rather than Jeffreys's actions that made the government's reprisals so savage.<ref>''Judge Jeffreys'' p.&nbsp;222–224</ref>

Alice Lisle was accused of sheltering some members of the defeated rebel army who had not yet been found guilty of treason. There was no evidence that she had taken an active part in the rebellion itself, and she was not accused of this. When the jury asked whether her actions could in law be considered treasonable, Jeffreys replied affirmatively. The jury then returned a guilty verdict.<ref>''Judge Jeffreys'' p. 215</ref> She was executed at [[Winchester]] by beheading (although the original sentence had been that she was to be burned at the stake). The King's refusal to reprieve her gave rise to a belief that he was taking posthumous revenge on her husband, the [[regicide]] Sir [[John Lisle]], who had been one of his own father's judges at his trial in 1649. Lisle had been murdered by Royalist agents at [[Lausanne]] in 1664, but the King had a long memory and may well have felt that Alice should suffer judicial punishment in her husband's place.

James considered making Jeffreys Viscount Wrexham and Earl of Flint. James refrained only because Jeffreys remained a Protestant.<ref>{{cite DWB|id=s-JEFF-GEO-1645 |title=Jeffreys, George, 1st baron Jeffreys of Wem (1645–1689), judge}}</ref> Despite his loyalty to the king, Jeffreys never hid his contempt for Roman Catholicism: in the last months of James' reign, as the Government drifted without leadership, Jeffreys remarked cynically that "the Virgin Mary is to do all".

==President of the Ecclesiastical Commission==
As Lord Chancellor, Jeffreys was given the presidency of the [[Ecclesiastical Commission of 1686|Ecclesiastical Commission]], a body established by James II under the [[royal prerogative]] to control the governance of the [[Church of England]] and coerce it.<ref>''Judge Jeffreys'' p.262</ref> Despite his misgivings and concerns that James was being overly influenced by hardline Roman Catholics, the Ecclesiastical Commission took proceedings against various clergy including the [[Bishop of London]] and academics of [[Oxford]] and [[Cambridge]] universities considered by James II to be overly Protestant. The Ecclesiastical Commission's activities came to an end with the Glorious Revolution.

== Residences ==

Jeffreys, presumably after being granted the title 1st Baron of Wem, took the residence of Lowe Hall in [[Wem]], Shropshire. The extant Wem Hall was built in 1666, although it has subsequently been significantly remodelled.<ref>http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-427780-lowe-hall-wem-rural-|British Listed Buildings website</ref> He also had [[Bulstrode Park]] built for him in 1686.

== Marriages ==
{{More citations needed|section|date=January 2023}}
In 1667, he married Sarah Neesham or Needham, by whom he had seven children; she died in 1678. She was the daughter of the impoverished vicar of [[Stoke d'Abernon]], Thomas Neesham. A story is published, that Jeffreys sought to marry a daughter of a rich City merchant and had a secret correspondence with her, through Sarah, her kinswoman and companion. When the merchant discovered the plot he refused his home to Sarah and George did a noble act by marrying her.<ref>[[Humphry William Woolrych|Woolrych, Humphry William]]. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofjudgejeffr00wool/page/28  . ''The Life of Judge Jeffreys, Chief Justice of the King's Bench Under Charles II and Lord High Chancellor of England During the Reign of James II'' 1852, reprinted 2006.] See also: Montgomery Hyde, H. ''Judge Jeffreys'' London, Butterworth & Co, Ltd. 1948, pp. 27–28</ref> They married in the church of [[All Hallows-by-the-Tower]] in the City of London.

He married secondly, in 1679, Anne, daughter of Sir [[Thomas Bloodworth]], who was [[Lord Mayor of London]], 1665–66; she was the 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 said to have a formidable temper: Jeffreys's family went in awe of her, and it was said she was the only person he was afraid of. A popular [[ballad]]  joked that while [[St. George]] had killed a [[dragon]] and thus saved a maiden in distress, Sir George had missed the maiden and married the dragon by mistake.

== Fall, death and burial==
During the [[Glorious Revolution]], when James II fled the country, Jeffreys stayed in London until the last moment, being the only high legal authority in James's abandoned kingdom to perform political duties. When [[William III of England|William III]]'s troops approached London, Jeffreys tried to flee and follow the King abroad. He was captured in a public house in [[Wapping]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=2409|page=2 |date=13 December 1688}}</ref> now named [[Town_of_Ramsgate|The Town of Ramsgate]]. Reputedly he was disguised as a sailor, and was recognised by a surviving judicial victim, who claimed he could never forget Jeffreys's countenance, although his ferocious eyebrows had been shaven. Jeffreys was terrified of the public when dragged to the Lord Mayor and then to prison "for his own safety".<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Epk_EQAAQBAJ&pg=PT357  |title=London's Riverside Pubs, A Guide to the Best of London's Riverside Watering Holes|first= Tim|last= Hampson|year= 2019|publisher=IMM Lifestyle Books|isbn=978-1607654506}}</ref>
[[File:StMaryAldermanbury.jpg|right|thumb|250px|St Mary Aldermanbury in 1904]]

He died of [[kidney]] disease (probably [[pyelonephritis]]) while in custody in the [[Tower of London]] on 18 April 1689. He was originally buried in the [[Church of St Peter ad Vincula|Chapel Royal of Saint Peter ad Vincula]] in the Tower. In 1692 his body was moved to [[St Mary Aldermanbury]].<ref>Winn, p. 44.</ref>

In his ''London Journal,'' [[Leigh Hunt]] gives the following account of Judge Jeffreys's death and burial: <blockquote>Jeffreys was taken on the twelfth of September, 1688 [''sic''].  He was first interred privately in the Tower; but three years afterwards, when his memory was something blown over, his friends obtained permission, by a warrant of the queen's<ref>Mary II, daughter of the deposed James II. She ruled jointly with her husband William III, the former William of Orange.</ref> dated September 1692, to take his remains under their own care, and he was accordingly reinterred in a vault under the communion table of St Mary, Aldermanbury, 2nd Nov. 1694.  In 1810, during certain repairs, the coffin was uncovered for a time, and the public had sight of the box containing the mortal remains of the feared and hated magistrate.<ref>Leigh Hunt, "Memoirs of Judge Jeffries," in ''London Journal,'' Wednesday April 9, 1834. Vol I, p. 14.</ref></blockquote>

During [[the Blitz]], St Mary Aldermanbury was gutted by a [[Nazi Germany|German]] [[Strategic bombing during World War II|air raid]] and Jeffreys's tomb was destroyed. No traces of it remain today. The ruins of the church were transported to the United States in 1966 and rebuilt to its original form in [[Fulton, Missouri]], as a memorial to [[Winston Churchill]]. The site is now a landscaped garden.

==Descendants==
Jeffreys's only son by Sarah Neesham, John (or Jacky as he was called at home) succeeded to his father's peerage. He married Charlotte, a daughter of [[Philip Herbert, 7th Earl of Pembroke]], and Henrietta de Kérouaille, sister of the [[Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth|Duchess of Portsmouth]], a mistress of Charles II and a supporter of Jeffreys in the early stages of his career.<ref>Wynne, S. M. "Kéroualle, Louise Renée de Penancoët de, ''suo jure'' duchess of Portsmouth and ''suo jure'' duchess of Aubigny in the French nobility (1649–1734)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15460, accessed 14 Nov 2010]</ref> John and Charlotte Jeffreys had one daughter, named [[Henrietta Louisa Fermor|Henriette-Louise]] after the two Kérouaille sisters, but no son, so that the male line of George Jeffreys became extinct. There are descendants through his daughter and granddaughters. John Jeffreys retained his father's loyalty to the Stuart cause. In 1701 he was one of five peers of the realm who voted against the [[Act of Settlement]] in the House of Lords, and felt strongly enough to enter written protests in the House of Lords Journal. All five, including Jeffreys, were Jacobite sympathisers who felt that it was wrong to exclude the Stuarts from the throne.<ref>House of Lords Journal, Volume 16: 22 May 1701, in https://www.british-history.ac.uk/lords-jrnl/vol16/pp698-699#h3-0009. Retrieved 1 October 2019.</ref>

== Reputation ==
[[File:Jeffry1753n061.jpg|thumb|Black and white oval frame portrait of Jeffreys]]
Jeffreys's reputation today is mixed. Some say he was a personally vengeful man. He had bitter personal and professional rivalries with [[Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet, of Gray's Inn|Sir William Williams]]. His political [[Animus nocendi|animus]] was displayed during his legal career. He suffered from a painful kidney disease that may well have affected his unbridled temper and added to this reputation, and his doctors apparently recommended alcohol to dull the pain, which may have explained his often shocking conduct in court.

In ''The Revolution of 1688'', the historian J. R. Jones refers to Jeffreys as "an alcoholic".

G. W. Keeton in ''Lord Chancellor Jeffreys and the Stuart Cause'' (1965) claimed the historical Jeffreys "to be a different person from the Jeffreys of legend".{{specify|date=October 2012}}

After reviewing the Lisle case and contemporary opinion Brian Harris QC concludes that 'Given that [Jeffreys] had to administer a largely inchoate criminal procedure and impose the bloody sentences that the law then required, a balanced judgement would regard Jeffreys as no worse, perhaps even a little better than most other judges of his era.'<ref>'Intolerance' published by Wildy, Simmonds & Hill, 2008.</ref>

==Legacy==
One session of the Bloody Assizes was held in [[Dorchester, Dorset|Dorchester]] on 5 September, in the Oak Room (now a tea room) of the Antelope Hotel. Jeffreys lodged nearby at 6 High West Street, and is said to have used a secret passage from his lodgings to the Oak Room. In 2014 the passage was discovered and was found to be wide enough for three judges to walk through side by side.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/11395070.uncovered-hidden-tunnel-where-the-infamous-judge-jeffreys-walked-more-than-400-years-ago/|title=Uncovered: hidden tunnel where the infamous Judge Jeffreys walked more than 400 years ago|website=Daily Echo|date=10 August 2014 }}</ref>

After his fall from power, a portrait of Jeffreys was taken from [[Gray's Inn]] and left in the cellar of Acton Hall (the family home). When Acton Hall was demolished in the 1950s, that painting and one of his brother Thomas were acquired by Simon Yorke, Squire of Erddig and hung in the entrance hall of [[Erddig|Erddig Hall]]. They can still be seen there. Both portraits are reproduced in Keeton's ''Lord Chancellor Jeffreys and the Stuart Cause''.

==Portrayals==
Jeffreys was portrayed by [[Leonard Mudie]] in ''[[Captain Blood (1935 film)|Captain Blood]]'' (1935),  [[Patrick Aherne]] in ''[[Lorna Doone (1951 film)|Lorna Doone]]'' (1951), [[Michael Kitchen]] in ''[[Lorna Doone (2001 film)|Lorna Doone]]'' (2001), [[Christopher Lee]] in ''[[The Bloody Judge (film)|The Bloody Judge]]'' (1969) and by [[Elliot Levey]] in ''[[Martin's Close]]'' (2019).

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Halliday, Paul D. "Jeffreys, George, first Baron Jeffreys (1645–1689)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14702, accessed 15 July 2017] [[doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14702]]
* Hyde, H. M. ''Judge Jeffreys'' (2nd edn 1948).
* Keeton, G. W. ''Lord Chancellor Jeffreys and the Stuart cause'' (1965)· [https://www.jstor.org/stable/44025938 online review]
*{{cite book | last= Winn| first=Christopher | year=2007| title=I Never Knew That About London| location=London | publisher=Ebury Press| isbn=978-0-09-194319-6}}
* Zook, Melinda. "“The Bloody Assizes:” Whig Martyrdom and Memory after the Glorious Revolution." ''Albion'' 27.3 (1995): 373–396. [http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=histpubs online]
* [https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=f16831212-1-person2&div=f16831212-1#highlight Old Bailey Proceedings front matter.] 12 December 1683

==External links==
{{Commons category|George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Jeffreys, George Jeffreys, 1st Baron | volume= 15 |last1= McNeill |first1= Ronald John |author1-link= Ronald John McNeill | pages = 308&ndash;310 |short=1}}

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