John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain | |
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In office 2 May 1827 – 24 November 1830 | |
Monarchs | |
Prime Minister |
|
Preceded by | The Earl of Eldon |
Succeeded by | The Lord Brougham and Vaux |
In office 21 November 1834 – 8 April 1835 | |
Monarch | William IV |
Prime Minister |
|
Preceded by | Sir Robert Peel, Bt |
Preceded by | The Lord Cottenham |
Succeeded by | The Lord Cottenham |
Personal details | |
Born | Boston, Massachusetts British America | 21 May 1772
Died | 12 October 1863 London, United Kingdom | (aged 91)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Tory |
Spouses | Sarah Brunsden
(m. 1809; died 1834) Georgina Goldsmith (m. 1837) |
Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst,
Background and education
Lyndhurst was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of painter John Singleton Copley and his wife Susanna Farnham (née Clarke), granddaughter of silversmith Edward Winslow. His father left America to live in London in 1774, and his wife and son followed a year later. Copley was educated at a private school and Trinity College, Cambridge.[1]
Political and legal career
Called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1804, he gained a considerable practice. He was appointed a serjeant-at-law on 6 July 1813. In 1817, he was one of the counsel for Dr J. Watson, tried for his share in the Spa Fields riots. Lyndhurst's performance attracted the attention of Lord Castlereagh and other Tory leaders, and he entered parliament as member for Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight. He afterwards sat for Ashburton (1818–1826) and for Cambridge University (1826–1827).
In December 1818, Copley was made
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 with Russia, made a sensation in Europe, and throughout the
Family
In 1819 Lord Lyndhurst married Sarah, a daughter of Charles Brunsden and widow of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Thomas, who was killed at Waterloo. She died in 1834, and three years later, in August 1837, he married secondly Georgiana Goldsmith (1807–1901), daughter of writer Lewis Goldsmith, of Paris. They had two daughters, Georgiana Susan Copley, who married Sir Charles Du Cane, Governor of Tasmania,[4] and Sophia Clarence Copley (1828-1911), who married Hamilton Beckett and is buried near her father in Highgate Cemetery.
Since his second wife came from a family of Jewish origins, it may be her influence which led Lyndhurst to support the Jewish Emancipation of 1858, when the law which had restricted the Parliamentary oath of office to Christians was changed, leading to the admission of Jews into parliament. Lyndhurst also advocated women's rights in questions of divorce.
He died in London on 12 October 1863 and was buried in Highgate Cemetery;[5] as he left no son, his peerage became extinct. Lady Lyndhurst died in London 22 December 1901, aged 94.[4]
Arms
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References
- ^ "Copley, John Singleton (CPLY790JS)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ "No. 18355". The London Gazette. 24 April 1827. p. 914.
- ^ Officers of the Marischal College & University of Aberdeen, 1593-1860.
- ^ a b "Obituary – Lady Lyndhurst". The Times. No. 36645. London. 23 December 1901. p. 7.
- ^ Cansick, Frederick Teague (1872). The Monumental Inscriptions of Middlesex Vol 2. J Russell Smith. p. 108. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ Debrett's Peerage. 1847.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lyndhurst, John Singleton Copley". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 170. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
- Dennis Lee: Lord Lyndhurst: The Flexible Tory – ISBN 0-87081-358-7, 318 pages – 1994 Niwot (Colorado): University Press of Colorado.
External links
- "Archival material relating to John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst". UK National Archives.
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Copley
public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lyndhurst, John Singleton Copley". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 170.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the