Christopher Wray
Encyclopedia
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but that changed as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005,...
.
Early life and career
Wray, the third son of Thomas Wray, seneschalSeneschal
A seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...
in 1535 of Coverham Abbey
Coverham Abbey
Coverham Abbey, North Yorkshire, England was a Premonstratensian monastery originally founded at Swainby in 1190 by Helewisia, daughter of the Lord Chief Justice Ranulf de Glanville...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, by Joan, daughter of Robert Jackson of Gatenby
Gatenby
Gatenby is a secluded village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated about two miles east of the A1 road, near to the River Swale...
, Bedale
Bedale
Bedale is a market town and civil parish in the district of Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England. It lies north of Leeds, southwest of Middlesbrough, and south west of the county town of Northallerton...
, in the same county, was born at Bedale
Bedale
Bedale is a market town and civil parish in the district of Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England. It lies north of Leeds, southwest of Middlesbrough, and south west of the county town of Northallerton...
in 1524. The ancient doubts, revived by Lord Campbell
John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell
John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell PC, KC was a British Liberal politician, lawyer, and man of letters.-Background and education:...
as to his legitimacy, were removed by the publication in 1857 of the wills of his mother (by her second marriage wife of John Wycliffe, auditor of issues in the Richmond district) and his brother-in-law, Ralph Gower. The pedigree, however, was first traced with accuracy from the Wrays of Waisleydale by the Rev. Octavius Wray in the Genealogist.
Wray was an alumnus of Buckingham (refounded during his residence as Magdalene
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...
) College, Cambridge. Though apparently no graduate, he was a loyal son to his alma mater, and set a high value on learning. Tradition ascribes to him the adornment of the college with the rich Renaissance west porch, and a deed dated 16 July 1587 shows that he had then built or rebuilt a portion of the edifice containing three stories of four rooms apiece, which were appropriated to the use of two fellows and six scholars, whose maintenance he secured by a rentcharge. He added another fellowship by his will; two more were founded by his wife in 1591, and a fellowship and two scholarships by his second daughter in 1625.
Wray was admitted on 6 February 1544-5 student at Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
, where he was called to the bar in Hilary term 1549-50, was reader in autumn 1562, treasurer in 1565-6, and again reader in Lent 1567 in anticipation of his call to the degree of serjeant-at-law
Serjeant-at-law
The Serjeants-at-Law was an order of barristers at the English bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law , or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writs dating to 1300 which identify them as descended from figures in France prior to the Norman Conquest...
, which took place in the ensuing Easter term. On 18 June of the same year he was made queen's Serjeant
Serjeant-at-law
The Serjeants-at-Law was an order of barristers at the English bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law , or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writs dating to 1300 which identify them as descended from figures in France prior to the Norman Conquest...
. His parliamentary career began by his return (30 September 1553) for Boroughbridge, Yorkshire
Boroughbridge (UK Parliament constituency)
Boroughbridge was a parliamentary borough in Yorkshire from 1553 until 1832, when it was abolished under the Great Reform Act. Throughout its existence it was represented by two Members of Parliament in the House of Commons....
, which constituency he continued to represent until the death of Queen Mary of England
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
in 1558. From 1563 to 1567 he sat for Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire
Great Grimsby (UK Parliament constituency)
Great Grimsby is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, consisting of the town of Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
. Like most of the gentlemen of the north, he was probably catholic at heart, but he evidently steered a wary course, for in the religious census of justices of the peace, compiled by episcopal authority in 1564, he is entered as ' indifferent.' In the following year he was assigned by the court of king's bench as counsel for Bonner
Edmund Bonner
Edmund Bonner , Bishop of London, was an English bishop. Initially an instrumental figure in the schism of Henry VIII from Rome, he was antagonized by the Protestant reforms introduced by Somerset and reconciled himself to Roman Catholicism...
in the proceedings on the Praemunire
Praemunire
In English history, Praemunire or Praemunire facias was a law that prohibited the assertion or maintenance of papal jurisdiction, imperial or foreign, or some other alien jurisdiction or claim of supremacy in England, against the supremacy of the Monarch...
. In the spring of 1569-70 he attended the assizes held at York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, Carlisle, and Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
for the trial of the northern rebels, and was employed in receiving their submissions. Among them were his brother Thomas and his sister's son John Gower, both of whom were pardoned.
Speaker of the House of Commons
In the parliament of 1571 Wray, then member for Ludgershall, WiltshireLudgershall, Wiltshire
Ludgershall is a town and civil parish north east of Salisbury, Wiltshire, at grid SU264509. The population was: 535 in 1831; 1,906 in 1951; and 3,775 in 2001. Ludgershall is now officially a town.-Historical features:...
, was chosen Speaker of the House of Commons
Speaker of the British House of Commons
The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is John Bercow, who was elected on 22 June 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin...
. In his address to the throne on presentation he expatiated with much learning and eloquence in praise of the royal supremacy in matters ecclesiastical, touched lightly but loyally on supply, and gratefully acknowledged the free course which her majesty allowed to the administration of justice. The speech introduced petitions for freedom from arrest, free access to and considerate audience by her majesty, and free speech. The first three were granted ; the last only elicited an intimation that the commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
would do well to meddle with no affairs of state but such as might be referred to them by ministers. The revival, in defiance of this injunction, of the whole question of the reformation of religion and church government occasioned an early dissolution (29 May). An act (13 Eliz. c. 29) confirming the charters, liberties, and privileges of the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
owed its passage largely to Wray's influence, for which the thanks of the senate were communicated to him by letter (5 June).
Lord Chief Justice
Wray was appointed on 14 May 1572 justice, and on 8 November 1574 chief justiceLord Chief Justice of England and Wales
The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but that changed as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005,...
, of the queen's bench. The only state trial in which as puisne he took part was that in Trinity term 1572 of John Hall and Francis Rolston for conspiracy to effect the release of Mary, Queen of Scots. As chief justice
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but that changed as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005,...
, in addition to his ordinary jurisdiction he exercised functions of a somewhat multifarious character. He was a member of the commission appointed on 23 April 1577 to adjudicate on the validity of the election of John Underhill (1545?-1592) to the rectorship of Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated on Turl Street in central Oxford, backing onto Brasenose College and adjacent to Exeter College...
; and as assistant to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
he advised on bills, received petitions, and on one occasion (14 September 1586) was placed on the commission for its adjournment. He was a strong judge, who well knew how to sustain the dignity of his office, and showed as much firmness in restraining by prohibition an excess of jurisdiction on the part of the ecclesiastical commission in 1581 as in enforcing the laws against the sectaries in that and subsequent years. It was not until towards the close of his life that he was himself added to the ecclesiastical commission (Christmas 1589).
The principal state trials over which he presided were those of the puritan John Stubbs
John Stubbs
John Stubbs was an English pamphleteer or political commentator during the Elizabethan era.He was born in Norfolk, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. After studying law at Lincoln's Inn, he lived at Thelveton, Norfolk...
or Stubbe, the Jesuit Edmund Campion
Edmund Campion
Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. was an English Roman Catholic martyr and Jesuit priest. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Protestant England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason by a kangaroo court, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn...
, and his harbourer, William, lord Vaux
William Vaux, 3rd Baron Vaux of Harrowden
William Vaux, 3rd Baron Vaux of Harrowden was an English peer, the son of Thomas Vaux, 2nd Baron Vaux of Harrowden. He succeeded his father as Baron Vaux of Harrowden in October 1556....
(son of Thomas Vaux, 2nd Baron Vaux of Harrowdon), and the conspirators against the life of the queen, John Somerville
John Somerville (conspirator)
John Somerville was a conspirator against the life of Elizabeth I of England.His plan was discovered before he became a serious threat. His co-conspirator was William Parry. His father-in-law, Edward Arden was also arrested, found guilty by Christopher Wray and executed for the plot. Somerville...
and William Parry (d. 1585) He also presided at the Star Chamber
Star Chamber
The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...
inquest, by which (23 June 1585) the suicide and treasons of the Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, 2nd Baron Percy was an English aristocrat and conspirator.-Life:He was born at Newburn Manor about 1532, was second of the two sons of Sir Thomas Percy, who was executed in 1537 as a chief actor in the Pilgrimage of Grace, and Eleanor Harbottle...
were certified; and was a member of the commissions which attainted Northumberland
Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, 2nd Baron Percy was an English aristocrat and conspirator.-Life:He was born at Newburn Manor about 1532, was second of the two sons of Sir Thomas Percy, who was executed in 1537 as a chief actor in the Pilgrimage of Grace, and Eleanor Harbottle...
's accomplice, William, grandson of Sir William Shelley
Sir William Shelley
-Life:Born about 1480, he was the eldest son of Sir John Shelley and his wife Elizabeth , daughter and heir of John de Michelgrove in the parish of Clapham, Sussex...
, and passed sentence of death upon Anthony Babington
Anthony Babington
Anthony Babington was convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots...
and his associates (September 1586). He was present at Fotheringay Castle as assessor to the tribunal before which the Queen of Scots pleaded in vain for her life (14 October 1586), but appears to have taken no part in the proceedings. He presided, vice Sir Thomas Bromley
Thomas Bromley
Sir Thomas Bromley was an English lord chancellor.-Life:He was born in Staffordshire, was educated at Oxford University and then called to the bar at the Middle Temple...
(1530–1587), absent through illness, at the subsequent trial in the Star Chamber
Star Chamber
The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...
of the unfortunate secretary of state, William Davison
William Davison
William Davison was secretary to Queen Elizabeth I. He played a key functional role in the 1587 execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, and was made the scapegoat for this event in British history.-Court official:...
, whose indiscreet zeal he blandly censured as bonum sed non bene before pronouncing the ruthless sentence of the court (28 March 1587). The last state trials in which he took part were those of Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel
Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel
Saint Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel was an English nobleman. He was canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970, as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales...
, on 18 April 1589, and of Sir John Perrot
John Perrot
Sir John Perrot served as Lord Deputy of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth I of England during the Tudor conquest of Ireland...
on 27 April 1592. At a conference with his colleagues in Michaelmas term 1590 he initiated the revision of the form of commissions of the peace, then full of corruptions and redundancies.
Death and reputation
He died on 7 May 1592, and was buried in the church of St Michael, Glentworth, LincolnshireGlentworth, Lincolnshire
Glentworth is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies about north from Lincoln and south-west from Caenby Corner....
, where, by the aid of grants from the profits of the mint
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but since 2009 it operates as Royal Mint Ltd, a company which has an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK...
, he had built for himself a noble mansion, which was long the seat of his posterity, and of which a portion was afterwards incorporated in the modern Glentworth Hall. By his will he established a dole for the inmates of an almshouse which he had built on the estate. A sessions house at Spittal-in-the-Street was also built by him.
Wray was lord of the manors Brodsworth
Brodsworth
Brodsworth is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, situated about five miles north-west of Doncaster...
and Cusworth, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, and of Ashby, Fillingham
Fillingham
Fillingham is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 170. It is north of Lincoln just off the A15....
, Grainsby
Grainsby
Grainsby is a village and civil parish located near the A16 road and the village of North Thoresby, in the East Lindsey district, in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Grainsby has a church called St Nicholas Church.- External links :*...
, and Kennington, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
. His monument, a splendid structure in alabaster and other marbles, is in the chancel of Glentworth
Glentworth
Glentworth can refer to:*Glentworth, Lincolnshire, a village in England;, a cargo steamer launched in 1920....
church. Re Justus, nomine verus: so, in allusion to his motto and with an evident play upon his name, he is characterised by the inscription. Coke
Edward Coke
Sir Edward Coke SL PC was an English barrister, judge and politician considered to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into a middle class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the...
praises his 'profound and judicial knowledge, accompanied with a ready and singular capacity, grave and sensible elocution, and continual and admirable patience.' No less eulogistic, though less weighty, are the encomiums of David Lloyd (State Worthies) and Fuller
Thomas Fuller
Thomas Fuller was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his Worthies of England, published after his death...
(Worthies of England). Their general accuracy is unquestionable; and though the judicial murder of Campion
Edmund Campion
Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. was an English Roman Catholic martyr and Jesuit priest. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Protestant England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason by a kangaroo court, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn...
and the iniquitous sentence on Davison
William Davison
William Davison was secretary to Queen Elizabeth I. He played a key functional role in the 1587 execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, and was made the scapegoat for this event in British history.-Court official:...
show that in crown cases Wray was by no means too scrupulous, it is perhaps unfair to apply the moral standard of modern times to a judge of the Elizabethan age.
Publications
Wray's judgments and charges are recorded in the reports of DyerJames Dyer
Sir James Dyer was a judge and Speaker of the House of Commons during the reign of Edward VI of England.Dyer was knighted at Whitehall on 9 April 1553, Strand Inn, preparatory 1520s, Middle Temple abt. 1530, called to the bar 1537?, bencher 1540s, serjeant-at-law 17 Oct...
, Plowden
Edmund Plowden
Sir Edmund Plowden was a distinguished English lawyer, legal scholar and theorist during the late Tudor period.-Life:...
, Coke
Edward Coke
Sir Edward Coke SL PC was an English barrister, judge and politician considered to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into a middle class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the...
, and Croke, Cobbett's State Trials, and Nicolas's Life of Davison. One of his speeches on a call of Serjeants in Michaelmas term 1578 has been preserved by Dugdale
William Dugdale
Sir William Dugdale was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject.-Life:...
. His speech to the throne in 1571 may be read in Sir Simonds D'Ewes's Journals of all the Parliaments during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, or in Cobbett's Parliamentary History.
For his opinions, notes of cases, letters, and other miscellaneous remains, see Peck's Desiderata Curiosa.
Family life and descendants
By his wife Anne, daughter of Nicholas Girlington of Normanby, YorkshireYorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, Wray had issue a son and two daughters.
- The elder daughter, Isabel, married, first, Godfrey Foljambe of Aldwarke, Yorkshire, and Walton, Derbyshire, who died on 14 June 1595; secondly, in or before 1600, Sir William Bowes, who succeeded his uncle Robert BowesRobert Bowes (ambassador)Robert Bowes was an English diplomat, stationed as permanent ambassador to Scotland from 1577 to 1583.-Life:The fifth son of Richard Bowes and Elizabeth Aske, he was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge. He served under his father in the defence of the borders...
in the Scottish embassy, and died on 30 October 1611; thirdly, on 7 May 1617, John, Lord Darcy of Aston, commonly called Lord Darcy of the North. She died on 12 February 1623. - Frances, the younger daughter, married, first, in 1583, Sir George Saint Paule, bart. (so created on 29 June 1611), of Snarford, Lincolnshire, who died on 28 October 1613; secondly, on 21 December 1616, Robert Rich, 1st Earl of WarwickRobert Rich, 1st Earl of WarwickRobert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich, created 1st Earl of Warwick was the son of Robert Rich, 2nd Baron Rich, and Elizabeth Baldry.-Marriages and children:First married Penelope Devereux on 10 January, 1581...
, whom she survived, dying about 1634. - The son, Sir William WraySir William Wray, 1st Baronet, of GlentworthSir William Wray, 1st Baronet, of Glentworth, Lincolnshire was an English politician. He represented the constituency of Grimsby from 1584 to 1585, Lincolnshire in 1601 and Grimsby again from 1604 to November 1611...
(1555–1617), was created a baronet on 25 November 1611, and married, first, in 1580, Lucy, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Montagu of Boughton, son of Sir Edward Montagu, by whom he was father of Sir John WraySir John Wray, 2nd BaronetSir John Wray, 2nd Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1648...
; and, secondly, about 1600, Frances, daughter of Sir William Drury of Hawsted, Suffolk, and widow of Sir Nicholas Clifford, by whom he was father of Sir Christopher WrayChristopher Wray (MP)Sir Christopher Wray was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1646. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War.-Life:...
(1601–1646).