John Wilde (jurist)
Encyclopedia
John Wilde (1590–1669) was an English lawyer and politician. As a serjeant-at-law
he was referred to as Serjeant Wilde before he was appointed judge. He was a judge, chief baron of the exchequer, and member of the Council of State of the Commonwealth period.
of Worcester, The Harriots Droitwich and Kempsey
, Worcestershire
, serjeant-at-law
, who also represented Droitwich
in parliament, by his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Edmund Huddleston of Sawston, Cambridgeshire. He matriculated from Balliol College, Oxford
, on 18 January 1605, aged 14, and graduated B.A. on 20 October 1607 and M.A. on 4 July 1610.
He became a student, of the Inner Temple
about November 1602, and was called to the bar in 1612, was elected a bencher in 1628, and created a serjeant-at-law in 1636. He was appointed under-steward of Kidderminster
by the new charter for that borough on 4 August 1636. He served for Droitwich in the parliaments of 1620-2, 1624, 1625, 1626, 1628-9, and March to May 1640. In the parliament of 1626 he took part in the debate against George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
, when he argued from Bracton that common fame was a sufficient ground for accusation.
for Worcester to the Long parliament
. He was chairman of the committee appointed to prepare the impeachment against the thirteen bishops
concerned in making the new canons, which on 3 August 1641 he presented to the House of Lords
. In December he presided over a committee of inquiry as to a plot to bring in the army to overawe the parliament, and on 6 Jan. 1642 he was chairman of the committee of the house appointed to sit in the Guildhall, London
, to consider the safety of the kingdom and city, and the preservation of the privileges of parliament, which were threatened by the seizure of the members' papers and the king's demand for the arrest of the five members. The same month he reported a conference with the lords respecting the action of the attorney-general, Sir Edward Herbert, and conducted the impeachment of Herbert which was ordered by the Commons.
On the outbreak of the First English Civil War
, the Commons recommended him for appointment as a deputy-lieutenant of Worcestershire on 18 March 1642, and he was made a sequestration commissioner for that county in April 1643. In February 1643 he was recommended for the post of chief baron of the exchequer in the unsuccessful propositions made by the Commons to the king. He was one of the twenty members of parliament who were lay members of the Westminster Assembly
which met on 1 July 1643.
Parliament, at Wilde's suggestion, ordered a new Great Seal of the Realm
in the place of that which Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Lyttleton of Mounslow
had carried to the king. It was resolved to entrust the new seal to six commissioners, comprising two lords and four commoners, and on 10 November1643 Wilde was elected as one of the latter. By successive votes these commissioners, notwithstanding the self-denying ordinance
, retained the custody of the seal for three years, when on 30 October 1646 they surrendered it to the speakers of the two houses.
Wilde was one of the managers on the part of the Commons (where he still kept his seat) in the impeachment
of Archbishop William Laud
, whose trial commenced on 12 March 1644. He served on most of the principal committees of the Long parliament. He was made recorder of Worcester in July 1646. The Commons ordered him and others to hold assizes
in the counties of Gloucester, Monmouth, and Hereford. Subsequently he was ordered to go the Oxfordshire and Hampshire circuits. As judge of assize he condemned Captain John Burley to be hanged at Winchester
for causing a drum to be beaten for 'God and King Charles' at Newport, Isle of Wight
, in order to rescue the captive king, while he directed the grand jury to ignore the bill of indictment against Major Edmund Rolph for plotting to murder the king.
On 12 October 1646 Parliament filled the vacancies on the judicial bench, and they appointed him chief baron of the exchequer, replacing Sir Richard Lane
, who had been appointed by the King. Wilde retained this position in 1649 when the king was beheaded; but though nominated by parliament a member of the high court of justice for the trial of the king on 1 January 1649, he, like the other judges, took care not to attend any of its meetings, and his excuses were allowed. He took the new oaths of office under the Commonwealth, and was elected a member of the first council of stat
e on 14 February. He was placed upon numerous committees, and was re-elected on 12 February 1650 to the second council of state, which lasted till 15 February 1651. He was one of the militia commissioners for Worcestershire on 25 September 1651.
In Richard Cromwell's parliament
, which lasted from January to April 1659, Wilde again served as member for Droitwich, and there presented a petition praying a restoration to his former office as chief baron, and for payment of the arrears due to him for his salary. The former was refused, but the latter was granted.
in his place as chief baron, but in consequence of his having assisted the lords in several committees of the Convention parliament, Wilde escaped further question, and, was not excluded from the general pardon in the Act of Indemnity. Aged 70 he retired to his house at Hampstead, where he died in 1669.
), describes him as learned in his profession, but of more reading than depth of judgement, and as executing his office with diligence and justice. Earl of Clarendon
(a Cavalier
) calls him an infamous judge, and John Burton, speaks of his tiresome speeches.
, M.P., serjeant-at-law, of Tong Castle
, Shropshire
. who died in 1624 aged 16 at the birth of their only child. There is no record of a subsequent marriage. He died aged about 79 at his house in Hampstead and was buried at Wherwell Priory
, Hampshire, then the seat of Charles West, 5th Baron De La Warr
who had married Wilde's only child and heiress, Anne.
Serjeant-at-law
The Serjeants-at-Law was an order of barristers at the English bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law , or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writs dating to 1300 which identify them as descended from figures in France prior to the Norman Conquest...
he was referred to as Serjeant Wilde before he was appointed judge. He was a judge, chief baron of the exchequer, and member of the Council of State of the Commonwealth period.
Early life
He was the son and heir of George WyldeGeorge Wild
George Wild or George Wylde was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1584 and 1611.-Parents:...
of Worcester, The Harriots Droitwich and Kempsey
Kempsey, Worcestershire
Kempsey is a village and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District in the county of Worcestershire, England. It is bounded by the River Severn on the west, and the A38 main road runs through it and is about 3 miles south of Worcester....
, Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
, serjeant-at-law
Serjeant-at-law
The Serjeants-at-Law was an order of barristers at the English bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law , or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writs dating to 1300 which identify them as descended from figures in France prior to the Norman Conquest...
, who also represented Droitwich
Droitwich (UK Parliament constituency)
Droitwich was the name of a constituency of the House of Commons of England in 1295, and again from 1554, then of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918...
in parliament, by his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Edmund Huddleston of Sawston, Cambridgeshire. He matriculated from Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
, on 18 January 1605, aged 14, and graduated B.A. on 20 October 1607 and M.A. on 4 July 1610.
He became a student, of the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
about November 1602, and was called to the bar in 1612, was elected a bencher in 1628, and created a serjeant-at-law in 1636. He was appointed under-steward of Kidderminster
Kidderminster
Kidderminster is a town, in the Wyre Forest district of Worcestershire, England. It is located approximately seventeen miles south-west of Birmingham city centre and approximately fifteen miles north of Worcester city centre. The 2001 census recorded a population of 55,182 in the town...
by the new charter for that borough on 4 August 1636. He served for Droitwich in the parliaments of 1620-2, 1624, 1625, 1626, 1628-9, and March to May 1640. In the parliament of 1626 he took part in the debate against George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record, he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated...
, when he argued from Bracton that common fame was a sufficient ground for accusation.
Member of the Long Parliament
On 21 October 1640 Wilde was returned as one of the knights of the shireKnights of the Shire
From the creation of the Parliament of England in mediaeval times until 1826 each county of England and Wales sent two Knights of the Shire as members of Parliament to represent the interests of the county, when the number of knights from Yorkshire was increased to four...
for Worcester to the Long parliament
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...
. He was chairman of the committee appointed to prepare the impeachment against the thirteen bishops
Laudianism
Laudianism was an early seventeenth-century reform movement within the Church of England, promulgated by Archbishop William Laud and his supporters. It rejected the predestination upheld by the previously dominant Calvinism in favour of free will, and hence the possibility of salvation for all men...
concerned in making the new canons, which on 3 August 1641 he presented to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. In December he presided over a committee of inquiry as to a plot to bring in the army to overawe the parliament, and on 6 Jan. 1642 he was chairman of the committee of the house appointed to sit in the Guildhall, London
Guildhall, London
The Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. It has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation...
, to consider the safety of the kingdom and city, and the preservation of the privileges of parliament, which were threatened by the seizure of the members' papers and the king's demand for the arrest of the five members. The same month he reported a conference with the lords respecting the action of the attorney-general, Sir Edward Herbert, and conducted the impeachment of Herbert which was ordered by the Commons.
On the outbreak of the First English Civil War
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...
, the Commons recommended him for appointment as a deputy-lieutenant of Worcestershire on 18 March 1642, and he was made a sequestration commissioner for that county in April 1643. In February 1643 he was recommended for the post of chief baron of the exchequer in the unsuccessful propositions made by the Commons to the king. He was one of the twenty members of parliament who were lay members of the Westminster Assembly
Westminster Assembly
The Westminster Assembly of Divines was appointed by the Long Parliament to restructure the Church of England. It also included representatives of religious leaders from Scotland...
which met on 1 July 1643.
Parliament, at Wilde's suggestion, ordered a new Great Seal of the Realm
Great Seal of the Realm
The Great Seal of the Realm or Great Seal of the United Kingdom is a seal that is used to symbolise the Sovereign's approval of important state documents...
in the place of that which Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Lyttleton of Mounslow
Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Lyttleton of Mounslow
Edward, Baron Littleton , from Munslow in Shropshire, was a Chief Justice of North Wales. He was descended from the judge and legal scholar, Thomas de Littleton. His father, also Edward, had been Chief Justice of North Wales before him.-Education and career:He was educated at Oxford before...
had carried to the king. It was resolved to entrust the new seal to six commissioners, comprising two lords and four commoners, and on 10 November1643 Wilde was elected as one of the latter. By successive votes these commissioners, notwithstanding the self-denying ordinance
Self-denying Ordinance
The first Self-denying Ordinance was a bill moved on 9 December 1644 to deprive members of the Parliament of England from holding command in the army or the navy during the English Civil War. It failed to pass the House of Lords. A second Self-denying Ordinance was agreed to on 3 April 1645,...
, retained the custody of the seal for three years, when on 30 October 1646 they surrendered it to the speakers of the two houses.
Wilde was one of the managers on the part of the Commons (where he still kept his seat) in the impeachment
Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
of Archbishop William Laud
William Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
, whose trial commenced on 12 March 1644. He served on most of the principal committees of the Long parliament. He was made recorder of Worcester in July 1646. The Commons ordered him and others to hold assizes
Assizes
Assize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to::;in common law countries :::*assizes , an obsolete judicial inquest...
in the counties of Gloucester, Monmouth, and Hereford. Subsequently he was ordered to go the Oxfordshire and Hampshire circuits. As judge of assize he condemned Captain John Burley to be hanged at Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
for causing a drum to be beaten for 'God and King Charles' at Newport, Isle of Wight
Newport, Isle of Wight
Newport is a civil parish and a county town of the Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England. Newport has a population of 23,957 according to the 2001 census...
, in order to rescue the captive king, while he directed the grand jury to ignore the bill of indictment against Major Edmund Rolph for plotting to murder the king.
On 12 October 1646 Parliament filled the vacancies on the judicial bench, and they appointed him chief baron of the exchequer, replacing Sir Richard Lane
Richard Lane (barrister)
Sir Richard Lane was an English barrister who practised mostly in the Court of Exchequer. He acted as defence counsel to the Earl of Strafford when he was impeached and attainted, and also represented Archbishop Williams and eleven other bishops who were imprisoned in the Tower of London in...
, who had been appointed by the King. Wilde retained this position in 1649 when the king was beheaded; but though nominated by parliament a member of the high court of justice for the trial of the king on 1 January 1649, he, like the other judges, took care not to attend any of its meetings, and his excuses were allowed. He took the new oaths of office under the Commonwealth, and was elected a member of the first council of stat
English Council of State
The English Council of State, later also known as the Protector's Privy Council, was first appointed by the Rump Parliament on 14 February 1649 after the execution of King Charles I....
e on 14 February. He was placed upon numerous committees, and was re-elected on 12 February 1650 to the second council of state, which lasted till 15 February 1651. He was one of the militia commissioners for Worcestershire on 25 September 1651.
Protectorate
When Cromwell assumed the protectorate, in December 1653, he did not continue Wilde as chief baron, but appointed William Steele. (Hardres, Reports). Wilde keenly felt this slight. He remained out of judicial employment during the remainder of Oliver Cromwell's life, and it is probable that he retired to his Worcestershire estate. He acted as justice of peace, and was made a commissioner for raising the assessment in the county in 1656.In Richard Cromwell's parliament
Third Protectorate Parliament
The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons...
, which lasted from January to April 1659, Wilde again served as member for Droitwich, and there presented a petition praying a restoration to his former office as chief baron, and for payment of the arrears due to him for his salary. The former was refused, but the latter was granted.
Second Commonwealth
On the return of the Rump parliament, on 7 May 1659, Wilde resumed his place as a member, and on 16 June following the house ordered that Wilde and other justices go the circuit. He was restored by parliament to his former post of chief baron on 17 January 1660. He assisted the lords in several committees of the Convention Parliament and escaped further question.Restoration
When King Charles returned in May, he appointed Sir Orlando BridgemanOrlando Bridgeman
Sir Orlando Bridgeman, 1st Baronet SL was an English common law jurist, lawyer, and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1642. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.-Life:...
in his place as chief baron, but in consequence of his having assisted the lords in several committees of the Convention parliament, Wilde escaped further question, and, was not excluded from the general pardon in the Act of Indemnity. Aged 70 he retired to his house at Hampstead, where he died in 1669.
Assessment
Wilde's character has been variously judged; Sir Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke ( a RoundheadRoundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
), describes him as learned in his profession, but of more reading than depth of judgement, and as executing his office with diligence and justice. Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon was an English historian and statesman, and grandfather of two English monarchs, Mary II and Queen Anne.-Early life:...
(a Cavalier
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
) calls him an infamous judge, and John Burton, speaks of his tiresome speeches.
Family
Wilde married Anne, eldest daughter and coheir of Sir Thomas Harries, 1st BaronetSir Thomas Harries, 1st Baronet
Sir Thomas Harries or Harris, 1st Baronet was an English lawyer.He was the eldest of four sons of John Harries, of Cruckton in Shropshire. He became a serjeant-at-law in 1589 and was knighted...
, M.P., serjeant-at-law, of Tong Castle
Tong Castle
Tong Castle was a very large mostly Gothic country house in Shropshire, set within a park landscaped by Capability Brown, on the site of a medieval castle of the same name....
, Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
. who died in 1624 aged 16 at the birth of their only child. There is no record of a subsequent marriage. He died aged about 79 at his house in Hampstead and was buried at Wherwell Priory
Wherwell Abbey
Wherwell Abbey was an abbey of Benedictine nuns in Wherwell, Hampshire, England.-Foundation:The nunnery was founded about 986 by Ælfthryth, the widow of King Edgar. She retired there to live out her life and was buried there.-10th to 16th centuries:...
, Hampshire, then the seat of Charles West, 5th Baron De La Warr
Earl De La Warr
Earl De La Warr is a title created in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1761.In the United States, Thomas West, 3rd baron is often named in history books simply as Lord Delaware. He served as governor of the Jamestown Colony, and the Delaware Bay was named after him...
who had married Wilde's only child and heiress, Anne.