Jeffreys, George

George (1648-1689), lord chancellor of England. He appears to have been born of respectable parents who made a great effort out of their small means to enable him to accomplish his desire of becoming a lawyer. He chose criminal law for his specialty, and became noted in the defense or prosecution, as the case might be, of the low characters whose trials were held before the court known as the "Old Bailey." He was talkative and insufferably overbearing toward his inferiors, but an adept at flattering those from whom he had something to gain. According to all accounts he was a most disagreeable, venal character. He rose steadily, however, to various positions of trust in the city of London. When it became worth his while to do so, he deserted the popular party for the service of the Stuarts. Charles II made him a baronet and a chief justice, but, for all that, declared that he was "a wretch with no learning, no sense, no manners, and more impudence than ten carted street walkers."

During the reign of Charles' brother, James II, Jeffreys conducted the Bloody Assizes, following the inglorious suppression of Monmouth's Rebellion. The post of lord chancellor was vacant. He coveted the prize. He set himself at work to butcher the prisoners who had been taken. It is said that his ferocity on the bench at this period was little short of savagery, or else insanity. The official report shows that 320 prisoners were ordered to execution. Historians say that double that number were actually executed; 800 were sold to labor in the West Indies. Others who had the means purchased their pardon. As a reward James gave him the lord chancellorship.

When the English revolution broke out Jeffreys realized that he was unlikely to receive mercy. He shaved off his shaggy eyebrows, disguised himself as a common sailor, and attempted an escape to Hamburg in a small vessel; but, while drinking at a low public house, he was recognized by a clerk who had seen him on the bench. He escaped being torn to pieces by a mob only by the timely arrival of a guard, who conducted him to the Tower of London. Here he lay for some months in daily fear of his life. A drunken death put an end to his miseries. His character appears to be without redeeming qualities. No writer has a good word for him. He is held up to execration as an example of what a man ought not to be. Jeffreys is the original of Bunyan's Lord Hategood, the same who condemned Faithful to death.