Thomas Trevor 1658-1730

Thomas TREVOR, 1st Baron Trevor 1658-1730

Biographical Note

Born in London, second son of Sir John Trevor, secretary of state and MP. Matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford 1673, but did not graduate; admitted at the Inner Temple 1672 (barrister, 1680). He quickly developed a successful legal career and became solicitor general in 1692, when he was knighted. He was MP for Plympton Erle, Devon 1692-98 and for Lewes in 1701, in which year he became lord chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1707. In 1712 he became Baron Trevor and continued to progress his judicial and political career, becoming Lord Privy Seal in 1726. He bought estates at Peckham, Surrey and Bromham, Bedfordshire

Books

Trevor used an engraved armorial bookplate, dated 1702 (Franks 29823/*257). The extent of his library is not known; in his will, he bequeathed his study of books (and his chambers in the Inner Temple) to his second son John, who became the 3rd Baron Trevor.

Sources

• Will of Thomas Trevor, the National Archives PROB 11/639/70.
• Frankle, Robert J. "Trevor, Thomas, first Baron Trevor (bap. 1658, d. 1730), jurist." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903-4.