Sir Christopher Wray

Sir Christopher Wray (1524 to 7 May 1592) was an English judge who served as Chief Justice of the King's Bench, later called the Queen's Bench, from 1574 until his death. Born in Bedale, Yorkshire, he studied at Cambridge and trained in law at Lincoln's Inn, was called to the bar around 1549 to 1550, and became serjeant at law and the queen's serjeant in 1567. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons in 1571, presenting petitions for parliamentary freedom from arrest and free speech, and went on to sit as a justice from 1572 before becoming chief justice in 1574, presiding over major state trials including those connected to the Jesuit Edmund Campion and to associates of Mary, Queen of Scots. He was noted for his firmness and his profound legal knowledge, and he died in 1592, buried under an alabaster monument at Glentworth, Lincolnshire. His son was later made a baronet.