Francis Pemberton

Sir Francis Pemberton (18 July 1624 – 10 June 1697) was an English judge and briefly Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in the course of a turbulent career. Early life He was born on 18 July 1624 at St Albans, the son and heir of a former London merchant, Ralph Pemberton, mayor of St. Albans, in 1627 and 1638, by his wife, Frances, daughter of Francis Kempe. His grandfather was Roger Pemberton of Hertfordbury, of an old Lancashire family. Francis was educated at St Albans School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. As a young man, he fell into dissolute company and acquired extravagant habits, leading to his imprisonment in the Fleet for debt. On 14 October 1645, he was admitted a member of the Inner Temple. There, he applied himself diligently to the study of the law and, having eventually secured his release, he was called to the Bar on 27 November 1654. Family In 1667, Pemberton married Anne Whichcote, the daughter of Jeremy Whichcote, Warden of Fleet Prison. They had numerous children, as his memorial in Highgate chapel records.