was b. at
Acton
,
Wrexham
, on
15 May 1645
, the sixth son of
John
Jeffreys
and his wife
Margaret
, daughter of
Sir
Thomas
Ireland
of
Bewsey, Lancs.
(‘
a very pious good woman
’ according to her son). His grandfather
JOHN
JEFFREYS
(d.
1622
),
chief justice of the Anglesey circuit of the Great
Sessions
, who had first adopted the family surname, laid the foundations of
Acton estate
by expanding and consolidating the holdings of these descendants of
Tudur
Trevor
(with their motto ‘
Pob dawn o Dduw
’) in
Wrexham
common fields; by marrying as his third wife the widow of
Sir
Edward
Trevor
of
Brynkinallt
(q.v.)
, he established a link with another ancient local family. His father,
JOHN
JEFFREYS
II
(
1608
-
1691
), fought for
Charles
I
, but was reconciled to the
Protectorate
and served as
sheriff
in
1655
. Of his elder brothers,
Sir
Thomas
(
knighted
1686
) was a
British consul
in
Spain
, where he married a
Spanish
wife and adopted her faith; and
William
was
vicar
of
Holt
,
1668-75
.
George
Jeffreys
was educated from
1652-9
at his grandfather's old school,
Shrewsbury
(with periodic tests of his progress by his mother's friend
Philip
Henry
(q.v.)
), then at
S. Pauls
(
1659
),
Westminster
(
1661
),
Trinity College
,
Cambridge
(
1662
) — which he left without graduating — and the
Inner Temple
(
1663
). His legal career began in the city as
Common Serjeant
(
1671
), but after being passed over for
William
Dolben
(q.v.)
as
Recorder
(
1676
) he turned to the
Court
, becoming
solicitor general
to the
duke of York
(the future
James
II
) and a
knight
in
1677
,
recorder
of
London
when
Dolben
resigned (
1678
), in
1680
chief justice
of the
Chester
circuit,
counsel for the Crown
at
Ludlow
and
J.P.
for
Flintshire
, and a
baronet
the next year. By supporting the designs of the
Crown
during the personal government of
Charles
II
(
1681-5
) and that of
James
II
, he rose rapidly to be
lord chief justice
and
privy councillor
(
1683
) and under
James
a
peer
and
lord chancellor
(
1685
); but he remained an unswerving
Anglican
, which is probably why
James
drew back on the point of making him
viscount Wrexham
and
earl of Flint
(
Oct. 1685
). On
26 March 1688
he had the distasteful duty of conveying to his old rival
Williams
(now
solicitor general
) royal orders to suggest names of local Dissenters suitable to serve as
magistrates
— a preliminary step towards the issue of the
Declaration of Indulgence
nine days later. He finally surrendered the
Great Seal
(which
James
threw into the
Thames
) in
Nov. 1688
, but was thwarted in his attempt to follow the
king
abroad, and d. in prison on
18 April 1689
. Details of his career are given in
D.N.B.
His judicial repute, for all his political animus and the unbridled temper which arose in part from the painful malady of which he died prematurely at 44, stands high with
lawyers
(e.g.
Birkenhead
,
Fourteen English Judges
,
1926
, 84-6, 96-8). Professionally, and at first politically, he was the bitter rival of
Sir
William
Williams
(
1634
-
1700
) (q.v.)
whom he tried to break by a ruinous fine for publishing a libel (
1680
), rejoicing also in his discomfiture as a
prosecutor
when the
Seven Bishops
were acquitted. One of the seven was
Jeffreys
's protégé,’
William
Lloyd
of
S. Asaph
(q.v.)
, who spoke highly of his
patron
, as did also
Jeffreys
's
cousin
Sir
John
Trevor
(
1637
-
1717
) (q.v.)
, another ‘protégé.’
Bishop
Lloyd
was, however, disappointed in his hope that as
justice of Chester
Jeffreys
would atone for the slackness of the
Denbighshire
magistrates
(including his nephew
Griffith
Jeffreys
,
sheriff
1683
) by rigours against local Dissenters; at the
Mold assizes
of
1682
he quashed proceedings against
Philip
Henry
and let off with a scolding
Henry
's friend
Ambrose
Lewis
(q.v.)
[No article found]
, the
Puritan schoolmaster
who, after conforming in
1662
, had come under fresh suspicion — and that despite the panic arising from
Monmouth
's recent ovation at
Chester
. After the death of his first wife he m.
Anne
, widow of
Sir
John
Jones
of
Fonmon, Glam.
(son of the Cromwellian ‘lord’
Philip
Jones
,
1616
-
1674
) (q.v.)
. The peerage became extinct with his son
John
, who m. a daughter of
Philip
,
7th earl of Pembroke
(q.v.)
; the parent line at
Acton
, carried on by his nephew
S
IR
GRIFFITH
JEFFREYS
(d.
1695
), a
Jacobite
— who rebuilt
Acton Hall
and whose wife
Dame
Dorothy
Jeffreys
(d.
1729
) was a great
benefactress
of
Wrexham
— came to an end in
1714
, the estate being sold in
1747
. The portrait of the
first lord Jeffreys
by
Sir
Godfrey
Kneller
, formerly at
Acton
, now hangs at
Erthig
,
Wrexham
.
Emeritus Professor Arthur Herbert Dodd, M.A., (1891-1975), Bangor
