Men of Kent and Kentishmen/James Hales
James Hales,
JUDGE,
Was born at Canterbury about the year 1470. He belonged to a family several of whose members obtained distinction in the Law. His father, John Hales, was one of the Barons of the Exchequer in the time of Henry VIII. James studied Law at Gray's Inn. In 1544 he became one of the King's Sergeants, and obtained a grant of the Manor of Clavertigh with the Monken Lands in Eleham. He was knighted by Edward VI, and advanced to the Bench of Common Pleas. In this capacity he sat in the court which tried Bishop Gardiner, a circumstance which the latter remembered in the day of his power; for when Chancellor to Mary he refused to administer the oath to Hales, until he made his purgation of heresy. This being refused, the judge was thrown into prison. By extraordinary pressure he was brought to recant, but this step so preyed upon his mind that in a fit of despondency he is said to have drowned himself in the river at Canterbury, 1655.