Lechford, Thomas

Lechford, Thomas

(fl. 1629–42) lawyer; probably from Surrey, England. He was practicing law in London before 1629, emigrated to Boston in 1638, and was the first lawyer in Massachusetts Bay Colony. He opposed the prevailing politics and religion of the colonial establishment, was debarred, and returned to London in 1641 to practice law there. In 1642 he published Plain Dealing: or Newes from New-England.