John Jeffreyson

Sir John Jeffreyson (1635-1700) was an English-born judge whose judicial career was spent in Ireland; he was unusual among Irish judges in holding the rank of English Serjeant-at-law. He was considered an excellent lawyer and was noted for his staunchly Tory views.^[1]

He was born in Durham, son of John Jeffreyson, a mercer, and Margaret Walton.^[2] He went to school at Guisborough and matriculated from St John's College, Cambridge in 1652. He entered Gray's Inn in 1651 and was called to the Bar in 1661. He became Recorder of Durham in 1679, bencher of Gray's Inn in 1682 and Serjeant in 1683. He was a Tory in politics and a close friend of the noted loyalist Thomas Cartwight, Bishop of Chester, but after the Glorious Revolution, unlike Cartwright, did not follow King James II into exile.^[3]

Perhaps surprisingly, given his political views, he was sent to Ireland as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) in 1690: possibly his seniority and ability outweighed his Toryism. He joined the King's Inn and was knighted in 1692: he was made a member of the Privy Council of Ireland in 1693. His political views led to conflict at a time when the Irish Bench was riven with political differences:^[4] he was removed from the Privy Council in 1695 but restored in 1697. The same year he acted as Commissioner of the Great Seal of Ireland. He died in 1700 and was buried in St. Peter's Church, Aungier Street, Dublin.^[5]

He married Elizabeth Cole of Gateshead in 1664, and had at least one daughter Margaret, who married a Captain Walker.^[6] Margaret was a friend of the Irish-born author, Mary Davys, who dedicated her first novel, The Amours of Alcippus and Lucippe, later renamed The Lady's Tale (1704) to her.^[7]

Elrington Ball called Jeffreyson a fine lawyer, but "a Tory above all ".^[8]

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