Sir George Treby JP (1643 – 13 December 1700) was a British justice and politician.
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He was the oldest son of Peter Treby, a barrister at the Court of Common Pleas and his wife Joan. He was educated at Plympton School, and was accepted into Exeter College, Oxford in June 1660. He left without completing a degree, and joined the Middle Temple on 24 October 1663, being called to the Bar on 2 June 1671. He became a bencher 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.
In March 1677 he was elected a Member of Parliament for Plympton. 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. In November 1678 Titus Oates revealed details of the Popish Plot, 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.[1] 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 for summoning parliament. He became Chairman of the Elections Committee, and continued to investigate the Popish Plot, helping introduce the second Exclusion Bill to Parliament.
In December 1680 he was one of the lawyers trying William Howard, 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,[2] and appointed a Justice of the Peace 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, 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 and Henry Pollexfen, Treby went to court to try to prevent Fitzharris, his most important witness, from execution. The argument was that the King's Bench 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.
On 12 April 1681 Treby married a second time, to Rachel, daughter of James Standish. He was active in the Green Ribbon Club, and suggested that James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth 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. 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. 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.
In 1688 the Glorious Revolution overthrew James, and led to the crowning of William III. 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 in March and Attorney General on 6 May. While in Parliament he helped write the 1689 Bill of Rights, 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, 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 with his wife after feeling ill, and died there on 13 December.
| Parliament of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir William Strode Sir Nicholas Slanning |
Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle with Sir Nicholas Slanning 1677–1679 Richard Hillersdon 1679 John Pollexfen 1679–1685 1677–1685 |
Succeeded by Sir Christopher Wren Richard Strode |
| Preceded by Richard Strode Sir Christopher Wren |
Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle with John Pollexfen 1689–1690 1689–1690 |
Succeeded by Richard Strode George Parker |
| Preceded by Richard Strode George Parker |
Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle with John Pollexfen 1690–1692 1690–1692 |
Succeeded by Thomas Trevor John Pollexfen |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by Sir Henry Pollexfen |
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas 1692–1700 |
Succeeded by Thomas Trevor, 1st Baron Trevor |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by William Williams |
Solicitor General for England and Wales 1689 |
Succeeded by John Somers |
| Preceded by Henry Pollexfen |
Attorney General for England and Wales 1689–1692 |
Succeeded by John Somers |