Georgian Era; Chalmers's Biogr. Dict.; List of Royal Society, 1797; List of Society of Antiquaries (1802); Northcote's Case of Sir Eardley-Wilmot (1847); Heaton's Australian Dict. of Dates.]
WILMOT, Sir JOHN EARDLEY EARDLEY- (1810–1892), baronet, barrister and politician, born on 16 Nov. 1810, was eldest son of Sir John Eardley Eardley-Wilmot, first baronet, and grandson of John Eardley-Wilmot [q. v.] He was educated at Winchester, where he received the gold medal in 1828, and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he matriculated on 22 March 1828, and obtained a scholarship. He gained the chancellor's gold medal for Latin verse in 1829, graduating B.A. in 1831. On 19 May 1830 he became a student at Lincoln's Inn, and he was called to the bar on 28 Jan. 1842; he joined the midland circuit and Warwick, Coventry, and Birmingham sessions. From 1852 until 1874, when he resigned the post, he was recorder of Warwick, and he was judge of the county court at Bristol from January 1854 to 1863, and subsequently from 1863 to 1871 of the Marylebone district in London. He represented South Warwickshire in parliament in the conservative interest from 1874 to 1885, where he introduced bills in 1875 and 1876 to amend the criminal law by differentiating two classes of murder, and to further extend the jurisdiction of county courts.
Wilmot was never a very successful advocate, though a practised speaker. He took great interest in the question of local government for Ireland, advocating the development of Irish industries and the establishment of a royal residence in Ireland, and acting as chairman of a harbour board in Ireland. His persevering efforts procured the release of Edmund Galley, who had been wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to penal servitude for life. Wilmot died at his residence in Thurloe Square, London, on 1 Feb. 1892. He married, on 27 April 1839, Eliza Martha, fifth daughter of Sir Robert Williams, ninth baronet. She died on 23 Oct. 1887, and had issue six sons and two daughters. He was succeeded in the title by his eldest son, William Assheton Eardley Wilmot, of the Northumberland Fusiliers, who was born in 1841, married in 1876 Mary, third daughter of David Watts Russell of Biggin, Northamptonshire, and died in 1896.
Wilmot was author of: 1. ‘A Digest of the Law of Burglary,’ London, 1851, 12mo. 2. ‘Lord Brougham's Acts and Bills from 1811 to the present time, now first collected and arranged, with an Analytical Review, showing their results upon the Amendment of the Law,’ London, 1857, 8vo. 3. ‘Reminiscences of the late Thomas Assheton Smith,’ London, 1860, 8vo; 5th edit. 1893. 4. ‘A Safe and Constitutional Plan of Parliamentary Reform,’ London, 1865, 8vo. He also edited his father's ‘Abridgment of Blackstone's Commentaries,’ London, 1853, 8vo; 1855, 12mo. He frequently contributed letters to the ‘Times’ and other newspapers on the legal and political subjects in which he was interested, besides writing and publishing various pamphlets.
[Times, 2 and 3 Feb. 1892; Law Times, 6 Feb. 1892; Law Journal, 6 Feb. 1892; Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench; Burke's Peerage; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886; Foster's Men at the Bar; Official Returns of Members of Parliament; private information.]
WILMOT, LEMUEL ALLEN (1809–1878), governor of New Brunswick, born on 31 Jan. 1809 at Sunbury, on the St. John River in New Brunswick, was the son of William Wilmot, a member of the provincial legislative assembly, by his wife Hannah, daughter of Daniel Bliss (1740–1806), chief justice of the court of common pleas in New Brunswick. On his father's side he was descended from a New England family, his grandfather, Major Lemuel Wilmot, being a loyalist refugee. Lemuel Allen was partly educated among the French community at Madawaska, and he afterwards entered the university of King's College at Fredericton. He was a successful student, and had the distinction of being ‘the best swimmer, skater, runner, wrestler, boatman, drill-master, speaker, and musician’ of his time. In 1830 he became an attorney, and two years later was called to the bar of New Brunswick. On 31 July 1834 he was elected to the house of assembly for the province of York. He declared himself a liberal in politics, advocating responsible government and opposition to the system of family compacts, and soon was acknowledged the liberal leader. In 1836 he moved an address to the governor for a detailed account of the crown land fund, and he and William Crane were sent to England as delegates to obtain for the representative assembly the control of the crown lands. They were cordially received by the colonial secretary, Sir Charles Grant, baron Glenelg [q. v.], and a bill was drafted granting the reforms they asked. The lieutenant-governor, Sir Archibald Campbell (1769–1843) [q. v.], withheld his approval and tendered his resignation. The delegates were again sent to England, where their efforts were finally successful. Campbell's resigna-
