- John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst
John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst (1772 – 1863),
Lord Chancellor ofEngland , was a Britishpolitician .He was born at
Boston, Massachusetts . The son of painterJohn Singleton Copley , he was educated at a private school andTrinity College, Cambridge . Called to the bar atLincolns Inn in 1804, he gained a considerable practice. In 1817 he was one of the counsel for Dr J. Watson, tried for his share in the Spa Fields riot. Copley's performance attracted the attention of Viscount Castlereagh and otherTory leaders, and he entered parliament as member for Yarmouth in theIsle of Wight . He afterwards sat for Ashburton (1818-1826) and for Cambridge University (1826-1827).In 1819, the year he became Solicitor General, he married the widow of Lieut.-Col. Charles Thomas of the Coldstream Guards. He became
Attorney-General in 1824,Master of the Rolls in 1826 andLord Chancellor in 1827, with the title of Lord Lyndhurst.As solicitor-general he took a prominent part in the trial of Queen Caroline and was opposed to the Liberal measures which marked the end of the reign of George IV and the beginning of that of William IV. He was
Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer from 1831 to 1834. During the Melbourne government from 1835 to 1841 he figured conspicuously as an obstructionist in theHouse of Lords . His former adversary Lord Brougham, disgusted at his treatment by the Whig leaders, soon became his most powerful ally in opposition. Lyndhurst held the chancellorship from 1827-1830, 1834-1835, and 1841-1846. As he was in regard to Catholic emancipation, so in the agitation against theCorn Laws , he opposed reform until Peel, his chief, gave the signal for concession.After 1846 and the disintegration of the Tory party over Peel's adoption of free trade, Lord Lyndhurst did not attend parliament sessions as often, but he continued to take a lively interest in public affairs and to make speeches. His address to the House of Lords on
19 June 1854 , on the war withRussia , made a sensation in Europe, and throughout theCrimean War he was a strong advocate of the energetic prosecution of hostilities. In 1859 he denounced the restless ambition of Napoleon III. His last speech was delivered in the House of Lords at the age of eighty-nine. His first wife had died in 1834, and in August 1837 he had married Georgina, daughter ofLewis Goldsmith . She was Jewish; and it was therefore natural that he strenuously supported the admission of Jews into parliament. He also advocated women's rights in questions of divorce. He died in London on12 October 1863 . He left no male issue, and the title became extinct.Further reading
Dennis Lee: 'Lord Lyndhurst: The Flexible Tory' - ISBN 0-87081-358-7, 318 pages - 1994 Niwot (Colorado): University Press of Colorado.
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*1911
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