Henry Bedingfield (judge)
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Sir Henry Bedingfield (1632 – 6 February 1687) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660 and from 1685 to 1686. He was briefly Chief Justice of the Common Pleas at the end of his life.
Early life and family
[edit]Henry Bedingfield was the son of John Bedingfield (1595–1680) of Halesworth, Suffolk and was baptised on 9 December 1632. He was the nephew of Sir Thomas Bedingfield. He was educated at Norwich Grammar School and admitted to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1650.[1] He also entered Lincoln's Inn that year, and was called to the bar in 1657. The following year he was made a freeman of Dunwich, enabling him to be elected to the Convention Parliament in 1660. He did not seek re-election subsequently, preferring to concentrate on his legal practice.[2]
Later career
[edit]In 1683, he presented an address from Dunwich, abhorring the Rye House Plot. That November he became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, a serjeant at law the following January, and a King's Serjeant the following November, when he was also knighted. Following the succession of James II, he was elected a Tory MP for Aldeburgh.[3] In February 1686 he was appointed a Justice of Common Pleas and in April Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.[2]
Private life
[edit]However, he died suddenly in the following February. He had married, c.1667, his cousin Mary, daughter of Robert Bedingfield, DD, rector of Newton, Cambridgeshire and had 2 daughters.
References
[edit]- ^ "Bedingfield, Henry (BDNT650H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ a b History of Parliament Online - Bedingfield,, Henry
- ^ Paula Watson (1983). "Aldeburgh". In Henning, B. D. (ed.). The House of Commons 1660–1690. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
Further reading
[edit]- Handley, Stuart. "Bedingfield, Sir Henry (bap. 1632, d. 1687". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1937. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- 1632 births
- 1687 deaths
- People from Halesworth
- People educated at Norwich School
- Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
- Members of Lincoln's Inn
- Justices of the Common Pleas
- Chief justices of the Common Pleas
- English lawyers
- 17th-century English lawyers
- Serjeants-at-law (England)
- English MPs 1660
- English MPs 1685–1687
- Knights Bachelor
- Members of the Parliament of England for Dunwich