George Jeffreys 1st Baron Jeffreys of Wem

George Jeffreys Jeffreys of Wem, 1st Baron 1645?-1689, English judge under Charles II and James II . A notoriously cruel judge, he presided over many of the trials connected with the Popish Plot (see Oates, Titus ) and was responsible for the judicial murder of Algernon Sidney and for the brutal trials of Richard Baxter and many others. He was created baron in 1685 and was soon sent to W England to punish those concerned in the rebellion of the duke of Monmouth . In the resulting Bloody Assizes he caused nearly 200 persons to be hanged, some 800 transported, and many more imprisoned or whipped. James II made him lord chancellor later that year. When James fled the country in 1688, Jeffreys was imprisoned and died in the Tower of London.

Bibliography: See biography by P. J. Helm (1967); study by G. W. Keeton (1966).

Jeffreys of Wem, George Jeffreys, 1st Baron (1645–89) English judge and Lord Chief Justice. He presided at the trials of the RYE HOUSE PLOT conspirators, of those implicated in the POPISH PLOT, and of Richard BAXTER, but he is chiefly associated with the BLOODY ASSIZES (1685) that followed MONMOUTH'S REBELLION. Contemporary reports of his brutality may have been prejudiced, but he certainly browbeat witnesses and his sentencing of the 80-year-old Alice Lisle to be burnt for treason caused widespread revulsion. Following the GLORIOUS REVOLUTION he was imprisoned, but died before proceedings could be taken against him.

Jeffreys, George, 1st Baron (1648–89) English judge. He became lord chief justice in 1683, and lord chancellor in 1685. He presided over the Bloody Assizes for James II. After the Glorious Revolution (1688), he was caught trying to flee the country and was imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he died. See also Monmouth