Thomas Trevor, 1st Baron Trevor, (8 March 165819 June 1730) was a British judge and politician who was

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

and later

Lord Privy Seal The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and abov ...

Biography

Trevor was the second son of Sir John Trevor III. and was educated privately before entering the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

(1672) and

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 ...

. 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 ...

in 1680. He was made

King's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1683 and was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

ed and made

Solicitor General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

in 1692, being promoted to

in 1695. In 1701 Trevor was appointed

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas The chief justice of the common pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench, which was the second-highest common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body ...

. He was also a Privy Councillor (1702–1714) and First Commissioner of the Great Seal (1710). In 1712 he was created a peer as Baron Trevor of Bromham. He was created as one of

Harley's Dozen {{short description, Event in British politics Harley's Dozen were twelve new peerages created in December 1711 by the British Tory government of Robert Harley which was struggling to gain a majority in the Whig-dominated House of Lords. This cam ...

when twelve new peerages were distributed to shift the political balance in the Whig-dominated House of Lords towards the Tories in order to secure the

Peace of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaty, peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vac ...

. On the accession of

George I George I or 1 may refer to: People * Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631) * George I of Constantinople (d. 686) * George of Beltan (d. 790) * George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9) * George I of Georgia (d. 1027) * Yuri Dolgoruk ...

in 1714 he was deprived of his offices for alleged Jacobite sympathies, but from 1726 he was restored to favour as

(1726 to his death), one of the Lords Justice Regents of the Realm (1727),

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(1730) and Governor of the Charterhouse. In 1707 he was elected a

fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

Family

In 1690 he married Elizabeth (1672-1702), daughter of John Searle of Finchley, by whom he had 5 children: *Thomas Trevor (1691-1753), 2nd Baron Trevor, who married Elizabeth (1697-1734), daughter of Timothy Burrell of Ockenden House, Cuckfield, a barrister, by her having one daughter, Elizabeth (1715-1761), who married

Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, (22 November 170620 October 1758), styled as The Honourable Charles Spencer between 1706 and 1729 and as the Earl of Sunderland between 1729 and 1733, was a British Army officer, politician and peer wh ...

, thereby becoming the ancestress of the future Dukes of Marlborough and

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

*Ann Trevor (1692-1785), who died unmarried *Elizabeth Trevor (1693-1773), who died unmarried *John Trevor (1695-1764), 3rd Baron Trevor, who married Elizabeth (c.1709-1782), daughter of

Richard Steele Sir Richard Steele ( – 1 September 1729) was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright and politician best known as the co-founder of the magazine ''The Spectator (1711), The Spectator'' alongside his close friend Joseph Addison. Early life Steel ...

, a writer, playwright, and politician, by her having one daughter Diana-Maria (1744-1778), who had severe learning difficulties and died unmarried *Laetitia Trevor (1697-1769), who married Peter Cock of Camberwell, Surrey and had issue In 1704 he married

Anne Barnard Anne Barnard is an American journalist who works for ''The New York Times''. She was its Beirut bureau chief from 2012 to 2018. She was born in New York City, studied at Yale University, and from 1993 to 1995 reported for ''The Moscow Times''. Sh ...

, (c. 1670–1723), the daughter of Robert Weldon (or Wilding), a merchant in Fleet Street, London and Colonel of the Tower Hamlets Regiment. Anne had previously been married to Sir Robert Barnard of Brampton, 3rd Baronet, with whom she had had six children. By Anne, Trevor had two further children who lived to adulthood: * Robert Trevor (1705-1783), 4th Baron Trevor (later created 1st Viscount Hampden) * Richard Trevor (1707–1771), who was

bishop of St Davids The Bishop of St Davids is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St Davids. The succession of bishops stretches back to Saint David who in the 6th century established his seat in what is today the city of St Davids in ...

from 1744 to 1752, and then

bishop of Durham The bishop of Durham is head of the diocese of Durham in the province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler (bishop), Paul Butler was the most recent bishop of Durham u ...

Biography

Family

Notes

References

Further reading