PRESTON, RICHARD (1768–1850), legal author, only son of the Rev. John Preston of Okehampton, Devonshire, was born at Ashburton in the same county in 1768. He began life as an attorney, but attracted the notice of Sir Francis Buller [q. v.] by his first work, ‘An Elementary Treatise by way of Essay on the Quantity of Estates,’ Exeter, 1791, 8vo. By Buller's advice he entered in 1793 at the Inner Temple, where, after practising for some years as a certificated conveyancer, he was called to the bar on 20 May 1807, was elected a bencher in 1834, in which year he took silk, and was reader in 1844.
Preston represented Ashburton in the parliament of 1812–18, and was one of the earliest and most robust advocates of the imposition of the corn duties. (See his speeches on the debates of 15 June 1813 and 22 Feb. 1815, Hansard, xxvi. 666, and xxix. 979, and his Address to the Fundholder, the Manufacturer, the Mechanic, and the Poor on the subject of the Corn Laws, London, 1815, 8vo, and other tracts in the Pamphleteer, vols. vii.–xi., London, 1816–18, 8vo). He had invested a large fortune, derived from his conveyancing practice, in land in Devonshire. In law, as in politics, he was intensely conservative, and thought the Fines and Recoveries Act a dangerous innovation; but his knowledge of the technique of real-property law was profound, and his works on conveyancing are masterpieces of patient research and lucid exposition. He was for some time professor of law at King's College, London. He died on 20 June 1850 at his seat, Lee House, Chulmleigh, in North Devon.
Besides the work mentioned in the text, Preston was author of:
- ‘A Succinct View of the Rule in Shelley's Case,’ Exeter, 1794, 8vo.
- A volume of ‘Tracts’ (on cross-remainders, fines and recoveries, and similar subjects), London, 1797, 8vo.
- ‘A Treatise on Conveyancing,’ London, 1806–9, 2 vols. 8vo; 2nd edit., 1813; 3rd edit., 1819–29, 8vo.
- ‘An Essay in a Course of Lectures on Abstracts of Title,’ London, 1818, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1823–4, 8vo.
He also edited in 1828 Sheppard's ‘Touchstone of Common Assurances,’ London, 8vo.
[Gent. Mag. 1850, pt. ii. p. 328; Ann. Reg. 1850, p. 236; Warren's Law Studies, 3rd edit. pp. 1215 et seq.; Charles Butler's Reminiscences, i. 62; Lysons's Magna Britannia, vol. vi. pt. ii. pp. 9, 18, 108, 336, 339; Marvin's Legal Bibliography; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit.]
PRESTON, Sir SIMON (fl. 1538–1570), of Preston and Craigmillar, provost of Edinburgh in the time of Mary Queen of Scots, was descended from a family who possessed the lands of Preston, Midlothian, from the time of William the Lion. Sir William de Preston was one of the Scots nobles summoned to Berwick by Edward I in 1291 in connection with the competition between Bruce and Balliol for the Scottish crown; and his son Nichol de Preston swore fealty to Edward I in 1296. The lands and castle of Craigmillar, near Edinburgh, were purchased by Simon de Preston in 1374 from John de Capella. Sir Simon, provost of Edinburgh, was the eldest son of George Preston of Preston and Craigmillar and Isabella Hoppringall. He is mentioned as a bailie of Edinburgh on 24 Aug. 1538 (Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1513–46, entry 1827), and filled the office of provost continuously from 1538 to 1543, and again in 1544–5 (Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, iii. 295–7). On 25 Aug. 1540 he had a grant from the bailies and town council of the office of town clerk for life, which was confirmed by letter of the privy seal on the 27th of the same month (ib. ii. 100–2; Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1513–46, entry 2193). On 5 June 1543 the queen-regent conceded to him, as son and heir-apparent of his father, and to Janet Beton, his wife, the lands of Balgawy in Forfarshire, and also the lands of Craigmillar and Preston, near Edinburgh (ib. entry 2926).
When the English invaded Scotland in 1544, many of the richer inhabitants placed their valuables in Craigmillar Castle, but the castle was surrendered by Preston to the enemy without a blow being struck. The author of the ‘Diurnal of Occurrents’ states that it was surrendered on promise to ‘keep the same without skaith’ (i.e. damage) (p. 32), but, according to Bishop Lesley, for a part of the booty and spoil (Hist. of Scotland, Bannatyne Club ed., p. 132); and Knox adds that ‘the laird’ was ‘caused to march upon his foot to London’ (Works, i. 121). In the summer of 1560 Preston went over to France,
