Robert Wright (judge, died 1689)

Although by marrying the daughter of the Bishop of Ely he obtained a good practice, his "voluptuous unthinking course of life" led him into great embarrassments.

These he evaded by pledging his estate to Francis North, and afterwards mortgaging it to Sir Walter Plummer, fraudulently tendering him an affidavit that it was clear of all encumbrances.

On 31 October the matter was brought by the Speaker before the House of Commons, which ordered Wright's chambers in Lincoln's Inn and his lodgings to be searched.

Jeffreys had recourse to the king, and in spite of the vehement objections of Francis North, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, who described him as ignorant, dishonest and utterly unfit to be a judge, procured his nomination on 27 Oct. 1684 as a Baron of the Exchequer.

James II selected him to accompany Jeffreys on the western assize after Monmouth's rebellion, and on his return removed him on 11 Oct. to the King's Bench.

This office he held only five days, for Herbert, having refused to assist the king to establish martial law in the army in time of peace by countenancing the execution of a deserter, was transferred to the chief-justiceship of the Common Pleas.

When the president of Magdalen, John Hough, protested against the proceedings of the commission, Wright declared that he would uphold his majesty's authority while he had breath in his body, and bound him over in a thousand pounds to appear before the king's bench on the charge of breaking the peace.

At an early stage the evidence of publication broke down, and Wright was about to direct the jury to acquit the prisoners when the prosecution was saved by the testimony of Sunderland.

He then sought safety in concealment, and on 10 Jan. 1688-9 addressed a supplicating letter to the Earl of Danby asserting that he had always opposed popery, and had been compelled to act against his inclinations.

His hiding-place in the Old Bailey was discovered by Sir William Waller (d. 1699) on 13 February, and he was taken before Sir John Chapman, the Lord Mayor of London, who committed him to Newgate on the charge that, "being one of the judges of the Court of King's Bench, he had endeavoured the subversion of the established government by alloweing of a power to dispence with the laws; and that hee was one of the commissioners for ecclesiastical affairs."

[7] By his second wife he had four daughters and one son, Robert (1666[8] – 12 October 1739[9]), Chief Justice of the Province of South Carolina, father of Sir James Wright, Jermyn (c.1712 – 10 January 1799[10])[11] and Isabella (c.1702 – 15 December 1775[12]), his eldest daughter who married 1) James Graeme[13] (d. 29 August 1752[14]), also Chief Justice of the Province of South Carolina[15] and 2) Dr. Thomas Glen,[16] the brother of James Glen, Royal Governor of South Carolina,[17] on 18 September 1755 at St. George's Hanover Square Church, London, Westminster, England.