Sir John Darnall (1672 – 5 September 1735) was an English lawyer.

Biography

The son of the lawyer Sir John Darnall (died 1706), Darnall the younger defended in 1710 Dammaree, Willis, and Purchase, the ringleaders in a

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in the neighbourhood of

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...

, when some meeting-houses were wrecked by way of showing sympathy with Sacheverell. The indictment was laid for high treason, and Dammaree was found guilty and sentenced, but ultimately pardoned. In 1714 Darnall was called to the degree of serjeant-at-law, and

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1724. In 1717 his opinion was taken on the question whether the King was entitled to the custody of his grandchildren. Darnall advised ‘that by the law of England every subject hath a right to the custody of his own children,’ and that he knew of ‘no distinction in the case of the royal family.’ In 1719 he appeared for the crown in the case of the Reverend

William Hendley William Hendley may refer to: * Bill Hendley (1834–1895), New Zealand cricketer * William Hendley (priest) (1691–1724), Church of England clergyman See also * William Henley (disambiguation) William Henley may refer to: * William Cumming He ...

, indicted at Rochester for obtaining money for the use of the Pretender under pretence of charity. In 1724 he was appointed steward of the palace court, commonly known as the

Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, in ...

. In the case of Major Oneby, indicted at the Old Bailey in 1726 for the murder of one Gower, whom he had killed in a rencounter in a tavern in Drury Lane, the jury returned a

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. The question was whether the facts amounted to murder or rested in manslaughter. Darnall argued the point before the Court of King's Bench. Oneby, being convicted of murder, committed suicide by opening a vein on the night before the day appointed for the execution. Darnall successfully defended in 1730 Thomas Bambridge, late warden of the Fleet Prison, on his trial for the murder of a prisoner. In 1733 he was placed on a commission appointed to inquire into the fees charged in the courts of justice. He died in September 1735, aged 63. Darnall married Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Jenner. He had a magnificent house at Petersham,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Darnall, John 1672 births 1735 deaths English barristers Serjeants-at-law (England) Knights Bachelor