Sir Robert Eyre (166628 December 1735) was an English lawyer and Whig politician who sat in the English and

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

from 1698 to 1710. He served as

Solicitor-General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

and then as a judge, and ultimately as

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, which was the second-highest common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body ...

Early life

Eyre was the eldest son of Sir Samuel Eyre of New House,

Whiteparish Whiteparish is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the A27 road, A27 about southeast of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. The village is about from the county boundary with Hampshire. The parish includes the hamlets of Co ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

and his wife Martha Lucy, daughter of Francis Lucy of Westminster and Brightwalton, Berkshire. He was educated at the City Grammar School, Salisbury, was admitted at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

on 2 April 1683, and matriculated at

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Flemin ...

on 11 May 1683. In 1690, he was called to the bar. He married Elizabeth Rudge, daughter of Edward Rudge, MP, with £4,000, on 6 December 1694. He succeeded his father in 1698.

Career

Eyre became deputy recorder of Salisbury in 1693 and became Recorder in 1695 for the rest of his life. At the

1698 English general election After the conclusion of the 1698 English general election the government led by the Whig Junto believed it had held its ground against the opposition. Over the previous few years, divisions had emerged within the Whig party between the 'court' su ...

, he was returned as Member of Parliament for

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

. He was nominally a Whig, but had a tendency to independence, particularly to make trouble. He was returned again at the two general elections of 1701 and at the

1702 English general election The 1702 English general election was the first to be held during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain, Queen Anne, and was necessitated by the demise of William III of England, William III. The new government dominated by the Tories (Briti ...

. He became Recorder of Southampton in 1703, serving until 1723, and recorder and alderman of Bristol in 1704, serving until 1728. He was returned again as MP for Salisbury at the

1705 English general election The 1705 English general election saw contests in 110 United Kingdom constituencies, constituencies in England and Wales, roughly 41% of the total. The election was fiercely fought, with mob violence and cries of "Church in Danger" occurring in ...

. In 1707 he became a QC and bencher of his Inn. Eyre was returned to Parliament again at the

1708 British general election The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland. The election saw the Whigs gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November the Whi ...

and was appointed

from 1708 to 1710. He became Treasurer of his Inn in 1709. He was particularly active at this time in relation to the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell. In 1710, he was appointed a

puisne judge Puisne judge and puisne justice () are terms for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. The term comes from a combination of the two French words, (since, later) and (born) which have been combined as or ; meaning ...

of the Court of Queen's Bench, and was knighted on 6 May 1710. He did not stand for Parliament again. In 1718, he gave an opinion favouring the view of the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

, rather than that of the

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

over the education of the prince's children, and was therefore passed over for promotion to be Lord Chief Justice of King's Bench. However, he was appointed

Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who pres ...

in 1723 and then appointed as

in 1725, a post in which he served until his death. He was a governor of Charterhouse by 1723. Eyre's wife Elizabeth died in 1724. He died at his house in

Bloomsbury Square Bloomsbury Square is a garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, London. Developed in the late 17th century, it was initially known as Southampton Square and was one of the earliest London squares. By the early 19th century, Be ...

, Central London on 28 December 1735. He and his wife had three sons and a daughter. He was succeeded by his son

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 ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

References

External links

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Eyre, Robert 1666 births 1736 deaths British MPs 1707–1708 British MPs 1708–1710 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Chief Barons of the Exchequer Chief justices of the common pleas Solicitors general for England and Wales Justices of the King's Bench English MPs 1698–1700 English MPs 1701 English MPs 1701–1702 English MPs 1702–1705 English MPs 1705–1707