Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eyre, Giles
EYRE, Sir GILES (d. 1695), judge, eldest son of Giles Eyre of Brickworth, Whiteparish, Wiltshire, M.P. for Downton in that county in 1660, by Anne, daughter of Sir Richard Norton of Rotherfield, Hampshire, entered Lincoln's Inn in October 1654, and was called to the bar in November 1661. He held the office of deputy-recorder to the mayor and corporation of Salisbury in 1675, and actively exerted himself in procuring the new charter granted to the town in that year, receiving a tankard of the value of 10l. in recognition of his services. He was subsequently appointed recorder, and continued to hold office until 13 Oct. 1684, when the charters of the corporation were surrendered. He was, however, reinstated on the renewal of the charters on 27 Oct. 1686. He represented Salisbury in the Convention parliament of 1688–9, and spoke in favour of the retention of the word ‘abdicated’ in the resolution declaring the throne vacant in the conference with the House of Lords, and supported the bill declaring the convention a regular parliament. On 4 May 1689 he was called to the degree of serjeant-at-law. The motto inscribed on the rings given, according to custom, by the newly called serjeants was appropriate to the occasion, being ‘veniendo restituit rem.’ He was at once created a justice of the king's bench. On 31 Oct. 1689 he was knighted. He died on 2 June 1695, and on the 12th was buried in the church of Whiteparish, Wiltshire. Eyre married twice. His first wife, Dorothy, daughter of John Ryves of Branston, Dorsetshire, died in 1677, and was also buried in Whiteparish church. His second wife, Christabella (surname unknown), survived him and married Lord Glasford, a needy Scotch papist, who was committed to the Fleet prison for debt in 1699, his wife having deserted him, though worth, according to Luttrell (iv. 549), 10,000l., and having taken all her property with her.
[Hoare's Modern Wiltshire, v. Frustfield Hundred, p. 56; Lists of Members of Parliament (official return of); Parl. Hist. v. 107, 129; Luttrell's Relation of State Affairs, i. 529, 598, iii. 481; Foss's Lives of the Judges.]