Background
Wiseman Clagett was born in August 1721 at Bristol, England. He was the son of Martha and Wyseman Clagett, a barrister at law.
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Wyseman Clagett
Edit ProfileEducation
Wiseman received an excellent education, became an articled student in a law office, and was admitted as an attorney of the Court of King’s Bench.
Career
In 1748 Clagett left England, went to the West Indies, and settled in Antigua, where he practised with success for ten years, becoming secretary of the colony. He never obtained any considerable practise, except in criminal cases. In 1758 he came to New England, established his home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and was admitted as an attorney of the superior court of that province. Shortly afterward he was appointed a justice of the peace and in this position proved efficient, exacting, severe, and overbearing, so much so that a new figure of speech was added to the vernacular, the expression “I’ll prosecute you, ” giving way to “I’ll Clagett you. ”
In 1765 he was appointed King’s Attorney for the province, continuing as such till 1769, when he went with his family to England. On returning to America in 1771 he moved to Litchfield, New Hampshire. Aligning himself with the colonists in the pre-revolutionary struggle with Parliament, he represented Litchfield and Nottingham West in the last General Court under the British crown. He was an active member of the provincial congresses, and became in 1776 a member of the Council and Committee of Public Safety. In 1778 he was made a special justice of the superior court, which position he resigned in November 1781 in order to become solicitor-general under the temporary form of government then adopted by New Hampshire. He was the only person who ever held this office, since the new constitution of 1784 abolished it. In his later years he was often embarrassed financially, but never relinquished his full bottomed wig and laced hat, and, in his once fine clothing “he exhibited a striking picture of delapidated importance”.
Achievements
Personality
Clagett was a man of striking personality. Possessed of great learning, “he wrote the Latin language with ease and elegance, and spoke it with fluency”
Connections
Clagett was married in 1759 to Lettice, daughter of Dr. Mitchell of Portsmouth.
