Sir John Eardley Wilmot PC SL (16 August 17095 February 1792), was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas The chief justice of the Common Pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, which was the second-highest common law court in the English legal system until 1875, when it, along with the other ...

from 1766 to 1771.

Family and early life

Wilmot was the second son of Robert Wilmot (1669–1738), of Osmaston Hall, near

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

, and his wife Ursula, who was the daughter of Sir Samuel Marow, Bt, of

Berkswell Berkswell ( ) is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, county of West Midlands, England. Historically in Warwickshire, Berkswell is situated in the rural east of the borough, approximately 2 miles (3.25 km) ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. His paternal grandfather was Sir Nicholas Wilmot (1611–1682), a

serjeant-at-law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writ ...

knighted in 1674. His elder brother

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

(c.1708–1772) was another lawyer who went into the service of the crown, was knighted in 1739 and created a baronet ( Wilmot of Osmaston) in 1772. John Eardley Wilmot was educated at

Derby School Derby School was a school in Derby in the English Midlands from 1160 to 1989. It had an almost continuous history of education of over eight centuries. For most of that time it was a grammar school for boys. The school became co-educational an ...

, then with Dr John Hunter at

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...

, where his contemporaries included

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

and

David Garrick David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...

. He then went to

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

, where he

matriculated Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...

in 1727, before studying law in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

, as his father and older brother had done before him, and was called to the bar in 1732. On 3 April 1743, Wilmot married Sarah Rivett (1721–1772), a daughter of Thomas Rivett of Derby, with whom he had three sons and two daughters. His eldest son, another Robert, died in Bengal, while his younger son,

John Eardley Wilmot Sir John Eardley Wilmot PC SL (16 August 17095 February 1792), was an English judge, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1766 to 1771. Family and early life Wilmot was the second son of Robert Wilmot (1669–1738), of Osmaston Hall, near ...

, became a barrister and wrote his father's memoirs.J. E. Wilmot, ''Memoirs of the life of the Right Honourable Sir John Eardley Wilmot'' (1802, 2nd edition 1811) One of his daughters, Maria, married the Jewish

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

banker Sampson Gideon, who changed his surname to Eardley and in 1789 became

Sampson Eardley, 1st Baron Eardley Sampson Eardley, 1st Baron Eardley FRS (10 October 1744 – 25 December 1824), known as Sir Sampson Gideon from 1759 until 1789, was the son of Sampson Gideon (1699–1762), a Jewish banker in the City of London who advised the British governm ...

. Another daughter Elizabeth married

Thomas Blomefield General Sir Thomas Blomefield, 1st Baronet (16 June 1744 – 24 August 1822) of Attleborough, Norfolk, was colonel-commandant royal artillery, to whose untiring labours as Inspector of Artillery and Superintendent of the Royal Foundries that the p ...

, Inspector of Artillery and Superintendent of the Royal Brass Foundry on 27 July 1788. John Eardley Wilmot's grandson Sir John Eardley Eardley-Wilmot, 1st Baronet, (1783–1847), served as a

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

and as

Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land The governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The incumbent governor is Barbara Baker, who was appointed in June 2021. The official residence of the ...

(or

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

), was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1821 and published ''An Abridgment of Blackstone's Commentaries'' (1822). (This example of a judge having an eminent grandson "where the son is not eminent" was quoted by

Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton, FRS FRAI (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911), was an English Victorian era polymath: a statistician, sociologist, psychologist, anthropologist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto- ...

in his study of the hereditary genius in 1869, and he proposed that the odds on such an occurrence were thirty to one against.)

Career

As a young barrister, John Eardley Wilmot was taken up by

Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot, (168514 February 1737) was a British lawyer and politician. He was Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain from 1733 to 1737. Life Talbot was the eldest son of William Talbot, Bishop of Durham, a descendant ...

, who was

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

from 1733 to 1737,

Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, (1 December 16906 March 1764) was an English lawyer and politician who served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was a close confidant of the Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister between 1754 and 1 ...

, the next Lord Chancellor, 1737 to 1756, and

Sir Dudley Ryder Sir Dudley Ryder (4 November 1691 – 25 May 1756), of Tooting Surrey, was a British lawyer, diarist and politician, who sat in the House of Commons from 1733 until 1754 when he was appointed Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Early life ...

, an

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

and

Lord Chief Justice Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

. Bishop John Hough of Worcester wrote to Wilmot's aunt on 4 May 1737: He joined the Midland Circuit and was an advocate at the Derby Assizes. Dudley Ryder appointed Wilmot a junior counsel to the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

, and in 1753 he was offered promotion to

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

and to

, but declined and returned to Derbyshire. However, in February 1755 he accepted the appointment as a judge of the

King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of commo ...

and serjeant-at-law, and was knighted. In 1756, he became a Commissioner of the Great Seal and was proposed as

, but said he didn't want it. On 15 March 1757, when he was holding the

assizes The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

, he narrowly escaped death when the roof of the courthouse collapsed, killing several people and injuring many more.

William Blackstone Sir William Blackstone (10 July 1723 – 14 February 1780) was an English jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the ''Commentaries on the Laws of England''. Born into a middle-class family i ...

, author of the famous

Commentaries on the Laws of England The ''Commentaries on the Laws of England'' are an influential 18th-century treatise on the common law of England by Sir William Blackstone, originally published by the Clarendon Press at Oxford, 1765–1770. The work is divided into four volume ...

(four volumes, 1765–1769) was one of Wilmot's close friends. Blackstone wrote to him on 22 February 1766, after the publication of the first volume of the ''Commentaries'': "Sir, Lord Mansfield did me the honour to inform me, that both you and himself had been so obliging as to mark out a few of the many errors, which I am sensible are to be met with in the Book which I lately published. Nothing can flatter me so much as that you have thought it worth the pains of such a revisal." In August 1766, Wilmot became

, and in September 1766 joined the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. In 1770, he again refused appointment as Lord Chancellor, and in January 1771 resigned as Chief Justice. In the aftermath of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, Wilmot was appointed as a royal commissioner to investigate claims by

American Loyalists Loyalists were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War, often referred to as Tories, Royalists or King's Men at the time. They were opposed by the Patriots, who support ...

for compensation for the losses they had suffered as a result of the war. He died in London in 1792 and was buried at Berkswell, Warwickshire, a country estate which had been inherited by his wife.

Portraits

Portraits of Wilmot include one by

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

, later engraved by

Francesco Bartolozzi __NOTOC__ Francesco Bartolozzi (21 September 1727, in Florence – 7 March 1815, in Lisbon) was an Italian engraver, whose most productive period was spent in London. He is noted for popularizing the "crayon" method of engraving. Early life Ba ...

, another by Dance now at the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children, with a copy in the

Royal Courts of Justice The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circuit and in other major cities. Designed by Ge ...

, and a third attributed to

Joseph Wright of Derby Joseph Wright (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797), styled Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution". Wr ...

, now in the

. A handsome posthumous portrait was painted in 1812 by

Benjamin West Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...

, showing in the background West’s allegorical painting ''Reception of the American Loyalists in England''.Free to Serve the King
by Christopher Leslie Brown at columbia.edu (accessed 5 November 2007)

Family and early life

Career

Portraits

References

Further reading