was early returned to Parliament, and took an active part in the inquiry into the supposed Popish Plot of 1678, and the impeachment of Viscount Stafford. Later, in the Convention Parliament, he was appointed Solicitor-General (1688), and Attorney-General (1689), in which office he continued till he was advanced to the Common Pleas as Chief Justice in 1692. He died 13 Dec. 1700, and was buried in the Temple Church.
He was held in the highest estimation both as a lawyer and a judge. He added the marginal notes to Dyer's Reports, and his pleadings and arguments on the Quo Warranto Case are printed with those of Finch, Sawyer, and Pollexfen (folio, 1690). He also published A Collection of Letters and other Writings relating to the Horrid Popish Plot (1681), and is supposed to be the author of a Tract entitled Truth Vindicated (in answer to Francis Hawkins's Confession of E. Fitzharris) (1681).
Admitted 4 November, 1556.
He was of an old Cornish family, but his parentage is not recorded. He was educated at Oxford where he was made Principal of Vine Hall. He became an advocate of Doctors' Commons in 1522, and was Proctor for Henry VIII. in his divorce from Queen Katherine. He became Chief Judge of the Admiralty before 1535, and was knighted in 1553. He died 13 Jan. 1565.
Admitted 1 November, 1669.
"Second son of Sir Jonathan Trelawney of Trelawne, Cornwall." He was educated at Westminster and Oxford, where he graduated B.A. 1672, and M.A. 1675. In 1676 he was ordained priest. By the death of his elder brother he succeeded to the Baronetcy in 1680. In 1685 he went into Cornwall to oppose the Duke of Monmouth {q.v.), and raised the militia in favour of James II. For this service he was offered the Bishopric of Bristol, to which he was consecrated 8 Nov. 1685. When James II., however, i?sued his Declaration of Indulgence in 1687, Trelawny refused to sign in favour of it, and was one of the seven bishops who petitioned against it. For this he was brought to trial with his fellow prelates 8 June, 1 688, but acquitted on the 30th following. On James's abdication, he took the oath to William and Mary, and was made Bishop of Exeter in 1689, whence he was transferred to Winchester in 1707. He died 19 July, 1721.
He is sometimes said to have been the subject of the Song of the Western Men, And shall Trelawny die, etc.; but erroneously, that ballad having reference to Sir John Trelawny, first Baronet, imprisoned by order of the House of Commons, 1628.
There is no record of this early judge in the Registers, but it is clear from the Year Books that he was a member of the Inn. He belonged to a family seated at Sand in Devonshire. He attained the degree of the Coif in 1478, was King's Serjeant in 1481, and was promoted to the King's Bench in 1488. His name appears in Keilwey's Reports as well as in the Year Books.
