Henry Pollexfen

Sir Henry Pollexfen (1632 – 15 June 1691), Counsellor at Law, of Stancombe Dawney in Sherford (near Kingsbridge), Devon, of Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, and latterly of Nutwell in the parish of Woodbury, Devon, emerged as the leading counsel of the western Assizes circuit during the 1670s and grew to more general prominence over the following decade. At a time of strong anti-Catholic feeling, he acted as counsel for the accused peers in state trials surrounding the Popish Plot allegations which emerged in 1678. He was chosen by Judge Jeffreys to present the evidence for prosecution in the Bloody Assizes following the Monmouth Rebellion, and in 1685 led the prosecution of Lady Alice Lisle. He defended the Corporation of London in the 1683 case of Quo Warranto, and had a role in the Great Monopoly case of the East India Company v Sandys of 1683–85, defending Thomas Sandys. Being personally of Protestant sympathies, and often advocating in resistance to the royal prerogative under the increasingly Catholic monarchs, he welcomed the departure of James II and offered advice to William of Orange in his approach and accession to the throne. For this he was rewarded by a knighthood and his appointment, in 1689, as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, during which time he also sat in Parliament. He held the office for only two years before his death in 1691.