Sir William Wilde, 1st Baronet (ca. 1611 – 23 November 1679) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660. Wilde was the eldest son of William Wilde, vintner of Bread Street, London. He was a student of Clifford's Inn and of

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 ...

in 1630. In 1637 he was called to the bar. He was Recorder of London from 1659 to 1668. On 27 Mar 1660 he was elected

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 ...

for the

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 ...

in the Convention Parliament. On 13 Sep 1660, Wilde 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 ...

. He was appointed King's Serjeant on 10 November 1661. He was made one of the judges of the court of common pleas in 1668 and advanced to become a justice of the King's Bench on 21 January 1672. He was described as a "grave and venerable judge" and was deprived of his office a few months before his death because he disbelieved the evidence of Bedlow in the "

Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate C ...

". Wilde was succeeded by his son

Sir Felix Wilde, 2nd Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

References

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Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', Wilde, Sir William (1611?–1679), judge, by E. I. Carlyle. Published 1900. 1610s births 1679 deaths Members of the Inner Temple Baronets in the Baronetage of England Justices of the Common Pleas Justices of the King's Bench Recorders of London Members of the Parliament of England for the City of London English MPs 1660 {{17thC-England-MP-stub