Lloyd Kenyon

(b. Oct. 5, 1732, Gredington, Flintshire – d. April 4, 1802, Bath, Somerset, England )

Gender: M

Lloyd Kenyon (1732-1802), 1st Baron Kenyon, was a leading barrister who was successively Attorney-General (1782-1784) and Master of the Rolls (1784-1788), and in 1788 succeeded Lord Mansfield as Lord Chief Justice. As an advocate, he led the defence of Lord George Gordon in 1780, and as a judge he presided for a period over the trial of Warren Hastings. As Lord Chief Justice, he promised to bring the force of the law against illicit gambling, and to punish “even the highest ranks of society” with physical punishment or imprisonment. Albinia, Countess of Buckinghamshire, who was known for her gambling parties, was indeed charged and convicted, but was merely fined. Kenyon was also a fierce opponent of radical politicians: in 1797 he convicted Thomas Williams for blasphemous libel for printing Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason, and in his charge to the jury, proclaimed the incompatibility of Christianity and free speech.

Also known as:

Lloyd Kenyon

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