Pauline on 24 Apr 2004  •  Link

Maynard, Sir John (1602-90).
Lawyer; unpopular at the Restoration because he had held judicial office in the Interregnum. He was, and remained, a Presbyterian and was 'to his last breath...true as steel to the principles of the late times' (R. North). Nevertheless he conscientiously performed his duties as government counsel in treason trials. He was knighted and made a King's Sergeant by Charles II, but not advanced to the bench until 1689 when he became a Commissioner of the Great Seal. His wife was b. Jane Selhurst.

from L&M Companion

Wim van der Meij on 27 Apr 2004  •  Link

Maynard was made a Serjeant to Cromwell already in 1653. In 1661 he was chosen burgess for Bere Alston and he sat in Parliament for that borough or for Plymouth. He died October 9th 1690, aged eight-eight.

Bill on 13 Feb 2014  •  Link

John Maynard, the eminent lawyer; made Serjeant to Cromwell in 1653, and afterwards King's Serjeant by Charles II., who knighted him. In 1661 he was chosen Burgess for Berealston, and sat in every Parliament till the Revolution, for that borough, or Plymouth. In March, 1689, he was appointed one of the Commissioners of the Great Seal; and, soon resigning from infirmity, died 9th October, 1690, aged 88.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

Bill on 15 Feb 2014  •  Link

John Maynard, the eminent lawyer; M P. for Totnes, 1640; made Serjeant to Cromwell in 1653, and afterwards King's Serjeant by Charles II., who knighted him. In 1661 he was chosen burgess for Berealston, and sat in every Parliament till the Revolution, for that borough, or Plymouth. It was he who made one of the most famous of legal jokes. William III., in allusion to his age, having said that he must have outlived most of the judges and lawyers of his own standing, Maynard answered, "And I had like to have outlived the law itself if your Highness had not come over." In March, 1689, he was appointed one of the Commissioners of the Great Seal; and, soon resigning from infirmity, died October 9th, 1690, aged eighty-eight. The popular feeling respecting Glynne and Maynard was echoed by Butler, who wrote : —

"Did not the learned Glynne and Maynard
To make good subjects traitors strain hard?"

---Wheatley, 1899.

Bill on 21 Feb 2014  •  Link

MAYNARD, Sir JOHN (1603-1690), judge; barrister, Middle Temple, 1626; M.P., Totnes, in Short and Long parliaments; framed Stratford's impeachment; deputy-lieutenant tof militia under parliament, 1643; member of the Westminster Assembly; advocated abolition of feudal wardships; protested against the king's deposition, 1648; serjeant-at-law, 1654; imprisoned for hinting Cromwell's government a usurpation, 1655; M.P., Plymouth, 1656-8; Protector's serjeant, 1658; solicitor-general on Richard Cromwell's accession; one of the first serjeants called at the Restoration; king's Serjeant and knighted, 1660; appeared for the crown at most of the state trials at the Restoration, and at most of the popish plot prosecutions; M.P., Plymouth, in the convention, 1689; lord commissioner of the great seal, 1689; left such an obscure will that a private act of parliament was passed, 1694, to settle the disputes to which it gave rise; his legal manuscript collections preserved in Lincoln's Inn Library.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.