Robert Eyre

For other people named Robert Eyre, see Robert Eyre (disambiguation).
Sir Robert Eyre.

Sir Robert Eyre (1666 – 28 December 1735) was an English lawyer, who served as Solicitor-General and then as a judge, ultimately as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.

Family

Eyre was the eldest son of Samuel and Martha Eyre of New House, Whiteparish, Wiltshire. He married Elizabeth Rudge in 1686 and they had five children, born between 1687 and 1694.[1][2]

Career

He was elected MP for Salisbury in 1698.

He served as Solicitor-General from 1708 to 1710. In 1710, he was appointed a puisne judge of the Court of Queen's Bench. In 1718, he gave an opinion favouring the view of the Prince of Wales, rather than that of the king 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 in 1723 and then appointed as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1725, a post in which he served until his death.[3]

He served as Member of Parliament for Southampton from 1727 until 1729.[4]

References

  1. Eyre History at the Wayback Machine (archived July 23, 2011). eyrehistory.net
  2. Thomas Smith, A Topographical and Historical Account of the Parish of St. Mary-le-Bonebone (1833), p. 48.
  3. David Lemmings, ‘Eyre, Sir Robert (1666–1735)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 16 July 2008.
  4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
Legal offices
Preceded by
Sir James Montagu
Solicitor General for England and Wales
17081710
Succeeded by
Sir Robert Raymond
Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer
17231725
Succeeded by
Sir Jeffrey Gilbert
Preceded by
Peter King
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
17251735
Succeeded by
Sir Thomas Reeve
Parliament of England
Preceded by
Thomas Hoby
Sir Thomas Mompesson
Member of Parliament for Salisbury
1698–1707
With: Charles Fox 1698–1701, 1701–1707
Sir Thomas Mompesson 1701
Succeeded by
Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Parliament of England
Member of Parliament for Salisbury
1707–1710
With: Charles Fox 1707–1710
Succeeded by
Charles Fox
Robert Pitt
Preceded by
Thomas Lewis
Thomas Missing
Member of Parliament for Southampton
17251727
With: Anthony Henley
Succeeded by
Sir William Heathcote
Anthony Henley