Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham

Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham (painting by Charles Robert Leslie )

Charles Christopher Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham PC KC (born April 29, 1781 in Wimpole Street, London , † April 29, 1851 in Pietra Santa , Lucca , Italy ) was a British lawyer and politician of the Whigs and later the Liberal Party who was a member of the House of Commons for several years and was Lord Chancellor twice between 1836 and 1841 and again between 1846 and 1850 .

Life

Lawyer and Member of the House of Commons

Pepys, son of the jurist William Weller Pepys, completed after school education at Harrow School to study law at Trinity College of the University of Cambridge , which he in 1803 with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) graduated. After his admission to the bar ( Inns of Court ) of Lincoln's Inn , he took up a position as a barrister in 1804 . For his legal services he was appointed Crown Attorney (King's Counsel) in 1826 .

In 1830 he took over the post of Solicitor General von Adelheid von Sachsen-Meiningen (Queen Adelaide), whose Wilhelm IV became the new king in 1830 . He served as the first legal advisor to the new queen for two years until 1830.

As a candidate for the liberal Whigs, Pepys was elected member of the House of Commons for the first time on July 14, 1831 and initially represented the constituency of Higham Ferrers until October 6, 1831 . On December 10, 1831, he was re-elected to the House of Commons, and now represented the Malton constituency until January 20, 1836 .

Solicitor General and Master of the Rolls

In February 1834 he was appointed by Prime Minister Charles Gray, 2nd Earl Gray to succeed John Campbell as Solicitor General of England and Wales and as such was Deputy Attorney General and thus one of the most important until his replacement by Robert Rolfe in September 1834 Adviser to the Crown and the Government. At the same time he was beaten to Knight Bachelor on February 26, 1834 and from then on carried the suffix "Sir".

Subsequently, Pepys took over the post of Master of the Rolls from John Leach in September 1834 and thus held the second highest judicial office in the English legal system after the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales . As Master of the Rolls, he sat until his replacement by Henry Bickersteth, 1st Baron Langdale until January 1836, before the civil division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales . In addition, he became a member of the Privy Council on October 1, 1834 and took over the office of Lord High Commissioner of the Great Seal on April 23, 1835 , taking over the role of Lord Keeper of the Great Seal alongside Lancelot Shadwell and John Bosanquet .

Lord Chancellor and Member of the House of Lords

On January 16, 1836 Pepys was appointed Lord Chancellor (Lord High Chancellor) in his cabinet by Prime Minister William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne , and thus succeeded John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst . He held the office of Lord Chancellor until the end of the term of office of Prime Minister Viscount Melbourne on August 30, 1841 and was then replaced on September 3, 1841 by Baron Lyndhurst.

A few days after his appointment as Lord Chancellor, Pepys was raised by a letters patent from January 20, 1836 as a hereditary peer with the title Baron Cottenham , of Cottenham in the County of Cambridge and thus belonged to the House of Lords until his death . On October 5, 1845, he also inherited from his older brother William Weller Pepys, who died childless, the dignity of 3rd Baronet (of Wimpole Street), which was conferred on his father on June 23, 1801 .

Prime Minister John Russell appointed him on July 6, 1846 to succeed Baron Lyndhurst once again as Lord Chancellor. He held this office for almost four years until June 19, 1850 and was then replaced by Thomas Wilde, 1st Baron Truro . During this time he inherited on December 9, 1849 from his cousin John Leslie the dignity of 4th Baronet bestowed on January 22, 1784 (of Upper Brook Street).

Shortly before the end of his second term as Lord Chancellor, Pepys, who was also awarded an honorary doctorate as Doctor of Civil Law (Hon. DCL), was named Earl of Cottenham , in the County of Cambridge by a letters patent dated June 11, 1849 the subordinate title Viscount Crowhurst , of Crowhurst in the County of Surrey.

His marriage to Caroline Elizabeth Wingfield, a daughter of former House of Commons William Wingfield-Baker , on June 30, 1821 had eight children, including the eldest son Charles Edward Pepys , who after his death was 2nd Earl of Cottenham and the subordinate title inherited. After his death on February 18, 1863, William John Pepys , the second eldest son of Charles Christopher Pepys, heir to the title of 3rd Earl of Cottenham and the subordinate title.

After his death in Italy, Pepys was buried in Totteridge , Hertfordshire .

Web links

• Charles Pepys at Hansard (English)
• Entry on cracroftspeerage.co.uk
• Entry in leighrayment.com
• Charles Christopher Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham, on thepeerage.com , accessed August 21, 2015.

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Earl of Cottenham 1850-1851	Charles Pepys
New title created	Baron Cottenham 1836-1851	Charles Pepys