Jeffreys of Wem, George, 1st Baron Jeffreys of Wem (1644–1689)

Judge Jeffreys of Wem was appointed Lord Chancellor by James II as a reward for his support for the crown, such as his brutal punishment of those who had supported Monmouth's rebellion in the ‘bloody assizes’ 1685. After the accession of William and Mary in 1688 he was imprisoned in the Tower of London where he died the following year.

Welsh judge, popularly known as ‘the hanging judge’. He became Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in 1683, and presided over many political trials, notably those of Philip Sidney, Titus Oates, and Richard Baxter, becoming notorious for his brutality.

Jeffreys was born in Denbighshire. In 1685 he became Lord Chancellor and, after Monmouth's rebellion, conducted the ‘bloody assizes’ during which 320 rebels were executed and hundreds more flogged, imprisoned, or transported. He was captured when attempting to flee the country after the revolution of 1688, and died in the Tower of London. Knighted 1677. Baron 1685.