Sir Edmund Probyn (1678 — 17 May 1742) was a British judge. Born to William Probyn and his wife Elizabeth, Probyn was baptised on 16 July 1678, and is next recorded as having matriculated at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

on 23 April 1695, joining the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

on 27 November. He was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

on 15 May 1702, and in 1720 married Elizabeth Blencowe, daughter of

Sir John Blencowe Sir John Blencowe (1642 – May 1726) was an English judge and politician. Biography Blencowe was born in 1642 at the manor of Marston St. Lawrence, on the Oxfordshire border of Northamptonshire. The family came originally from Greystock, in ...

. After 20 years of "the usual forensic drudgery", Probyn secured appointment as a justice of the Brecon, Glamorgan, and Radnor circuit court in 1721, and became a Serjeant-at-Law on 27 January 1724, defending

Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, (23 July 1666 – 28 April 1732) was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1705 to 1710. He was Lord Chief Justice from 1710 to 1718 and acted briefly as one of the regents be ...

at his trial for embezzlement. On 3 November 1726 he became a

Justice of the King's Bench Justice of the King's Bench, or Justice of the Queen's Bench during the reign of a female monarch, was a puisne judicial position within the Court of King's Bench, under the Chief Justice. The King's Bench was a court of common law which modern ...

, succeeding Sir Littleton Powys, and on 24 November 1740 became

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 ...

, succeeding Sir John Comyns. After his death on 17 May 1742, Probyn's estate was left to his nephew, John Hopkins, on the condition that he took the last name Probyn. This he did, and later sat as a Member of Parliament for

Wootton Bassett Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 13,570 at the 2021 Census. In the north of the county, it lies to the west of the town of Swindon and northeast of ...

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Probyn, Edmund 1678 births 1742 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple Justices of the King's Bench Chief Barons of the Exchequer