Sir George Treby JP

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 (1643 – 13 December 1700) was a British justice and politician.

Early life and education

He was the oldest son of Peter Treby, a barrister

Barrister

A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...

at the Court of Common Pleas

Court of Common Pleas (England)

The Court of Common Pleas, or Common Bench, was a common law court in the English legal system that covered "common pleas"; actions between subject and subject, which did not concern the king. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century after splitting from the Exchequer of Pleas, the Common...

 and his wife Joan. He was educated at Plympton School, and was accepted into Exeter College, Oxford

Exeter College, Oxford

Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...

 in June 1660. He left without completing a degree, and joined the Middle Temple

Middle Temple

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

 on 24 October 1663, being called to the Bar on 2 June 1671. He became a bencher

Bencher

A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher can be elected while still a barrister , in recognition of the contribution that the barrister has made to the life of the Inn or to the law...

 of Middle Temple on 28 January 1681, served as a reader in 1686 and was treasurer in 1689. In 1675 he married Anna Blount, who died before September 1677.

Political career

In March 1677 he was elected a Member of Parliament for Plympton

Plympton Erle (UK Parliament constituency)

Plympton Erle, also spelt Plympton Earle, was a parliamentary borough in Devon. It elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-1295-1640:-1640-1832:...

. He was reelected for both the February and August Parliaments of 1679, and again in 1689 and 1690. In Parliament Treby focused on subjects such as the wool trade, and other topics which would concern Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

. In November 1678 Titus Oates

Titus Oates

Titus Oates was an English perjurer who fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II.-Early life:...

 revealed details of the Popish Plot

Popish Plot

The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates that gripped England, Wales and Scotland in Anti-Catholic hysteria between 1678 and 1681. Oates alleged that there existed an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II, accusations that led to the execution of at...

, and Treby acted as chairman of the Committee of Secrecy dedicated to investigating it. It was discussed in June 1679 that Treby might be elected as the new Speaker of the House of Commons, but this failed since he was so short sighted he could not distinguish between different MPs. He failed to be elected Chairman of the Committee of Elections and Privileges in 1679, but in 1680 was named to the committee investigating people who had promoted the ‘abhorrences’ of petitions to the King

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

 for summoning parliament. He became Chairman of the Elections Committee, and continued to investigate the Popish Plot, helping introduce the second Exclusion Bill

Exclusion Bill

The Exclusion Crisis ran from 1678 through 1681 in the reign of Charles II of England. The Exclusion Bill sought to exclude the king's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland because he was Roman Catholic...

 to Parliament.

In December 1680 he was one of the lawyers trying William Howard

William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford

Blessed William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford was the youngest son of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, and his wife, the former Alethea Talbot. He was a supporter of the Royalist cause before being implicated in the Popish Plot and executed for treason...

, the first lord to be arrested as part of the Popish Plot. In the same period of time he was appointed Recorder of London, and on 22 January 1681 he was knighted, and appointed a Justice of the Peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 in February for London and Devon. He was again elected for Plympton in April 1681 for the Third Exclusion Parliament, and helped introduce the Third Exclusion Bill. He also disclosed information gained about the Popish Plot from Edward Fitzharris

Edward Fitzharris

Edward Fitzharris was an Anglo-Irish conspirator. His prosecution at the time of the Popish Plot hoax became a struggle for jurisdiction involving the courts and the two Houses of Parliament.-Life:...

, with the intention being to impeach him and thereby gain more information about the other conspirators. Following the dissolution of the Third Exclusion Parliament, and after any information revealed could potentially damage the King, Fitzharris was charged with treason. Along with Sir Francis Winnington

Francis Winnington (Solicitor-General)

Sir Francis Winnington was a successful lawyer in England, who became Solicitor-General to King Charles II.He entered the Middle Temple in 1656 and was called to the bar in 1660 and rose steadily, serving as counsel in various Parliamentary impeachments...

 and Henry Pollexfen

Henry Pollexfen

Sir Henry Pollexfen was a British judge and politician. He was the son of Andrew Pollexfen and his wife Joan, and the brother of John Pollexfen, the British political economist. He entered Inner Temple in 1652, was called to the bar in 1658 and by 1662 he was pleading before the high courts at...

, Treby went to court to try to prevent Fitzharris, his most important witness, from execution. The argument was that the King's Bench

King's Bench

The Queen's Bench is the superior court in a number of jurisdictions within some of the Commonwealth realms...

 could not try Fitzharris as he was currently being prosecuted by Parliament; to do so would be to move the case from a higher court to a lower one. The argument was thrown out as the dissolution of the Parliament meant that the impeachment case had effectively ceased, and Fitzharris was executed shortly after. After the execution Fitzharris's alleged confession was published by Francis Hawkins, where it was claimed Treby and others had attempted to pressure him into giving false testimony. Treby is thought to have published Truth Vindicated to defend himself.

Opposition to the court

On 12 April 1681 Treby married a second time, to Rachel, daughter of James Standish. He was active in the Green Ribbon Club

Green Ribbon Club

The Green Ribbon Club was one of the earliest of the loosely combined associations which met from time to time in London taverns or coffee-houses for political purposes in the 17th century....

, and suggested that James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth

James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth

James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, 1st Duke of Buccleuch, KG, PC , was an English nobleman. Originally called James Crofts or James Fitzroy, he was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II and his mistress, Lucy Walter...

 was the rightful king. In 1681 he presented a petition from the city of London to the King requesting another Parliament. The King refused, saying that the city was meddling in business that did not belong to it.

In part due to the London call for a new Parliament, King Charles and his lawyers attempted to dissolve London's corporate charter with a writ of Quo warranto

Quo warranto

Quo warranto is a prerogative writ requiring the person to whom it is directed to show what authority they have for exercising some right or power they claim to hold.-History:...

. Partly in an attempt to earn the King's favour for the city, Treby made a loyal speech when presenting the new sheriffs of London in September 1682, but the Quo warranto action continued. Treby argued at the King's Bench that any wrongs committed had been done by individuals, not the city as a whole; it was therefore improper to attack the city for those actions. He also noted that while the Quo warranto was brought against the city corporation, it claimed that the corporations illegal acts had destroyed it, and pointed out the contradiction of an attack on an organisation which the attack claimed did not exist. The latter point was brushed aside on the grounds that the corporation would only be destroyed if judgement was brought against it, which the court duly did. Judgement was deferred in the hopes that London might surrender its charter to the King, but Treby convinced the city leaders to continue fighting, saying that to surrender would violate their oaths to uphold the rights of the city and its citizens. Despite this, judgement was entered in October 1683, and the corporation ceased to exist, with Treby losing his Recordership and his position on various county benches. In 1684 Plympton had a similar case brought against them, and after seeing the example made of London, surrendered, with Treby losing his Recordership there as well.

On 14 December 1684 he married Dorothy, daughter of Ralph Grainge, a lawyer of the Inner Temple

Inner Temple

The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

. They had two children; a daughter, Maria, who died early, and a son, also called George, who also became a Member of Parliament for Plympton, as did his son in turn. Dorothy died within a few years, and on 6 January 1693 he married his fourth wife, Mary Brinley, who reportedly had a dowry worth £10,0000; they had a son, Brinley.

In the elections to the 1685 Parliament Treby stood against and lost to Richard Strode, partially as a result of the Plympton corporation charter's rewriting, which had damaged Treby's political standing. He did not serve for the rest of James's reign, even refusing two offers to have his Recordership of London returned.

Under William

In 1688 the Glorious Revolution

Glorious Revolution

The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...

 overthrew James, and led to the crowning of William III

William III of England

William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...

. He was reappointed as Recorder of London on 10 December, and was again returned to Parliament for Plympton in 1689. He was named Solicitor General for England and Wales

Solicitor General for England and Wales

Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...

 in March and Attorney General

Attorney General for England and Wales

Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...

 on 6 May. While in Parliament he helped write the 1689 Bill of Rights

Bill of Rights 1689

The Bill of Rights or the Bill of Rights 1688 is an Act of the Parliament of England.The Bill of Rights was passed by Parliament on 16 December 1689. It was a re-statement in statutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament to William and Mary in March 1689 ,...

, a landmark document in British law. He was defeated in the March 1690 election, again by Strode, but the result was overturned and voided by the House of Commons, with Treby winning the second vote two weeks later. In 1692 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas

The Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, was the second highest common law court in the English legal system until 1880, when it was dissolved. As such, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was one of the highest judicial officials in England, behind only the Lord...

, resigning his seat in the Commons and his Recordership. In 1693 he headed the trial of William Anderton for libel, and in 1695 and 1696 he was among the justices who tried the Association plotters. In December 1700 he moved to Kensington

Kensington

Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...

with his wife after feeling ill, and died there on 13 December.