Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot of Hensol

Charles Talbot. Portrait of John Vanderbank

Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot of Hensol (* 1685 , † February 14, 1737 ) was a British nobleman, lawyer and politician. He was a Member of the House of Commons from 1720 to 1733 and Lord Chancellor of Great Britain from 1733 until his death .

Origin and youth

Talbot came from a Worcester branch of the old English Talbot family. He was a descendant of Gilbert Talbot, a younger son of John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury . He was the eldest son of William Talbot and Catherine King, daughter of Richard King from London. He attended Eton College and then studied at Oriel College , Oxford , where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1704 .

Legal career

In the same year Talbot became a Fellow of All Souls College . His father had become Bishop of Oxford in 1699 , and his son originally wanted to be a clergyman, but on the advice of the future Lord Chancellor Lord Cowper , he pursued a legal career. On June 28, 1707 he became a barrister at the Inner Temple and in 1714 he became a Bachelor of Laws at Lambeth. On May 31, 1717 he was appointed Solicitor General by George , the Prince of Wales. In 1720 he was elected by -election to the House of Commons for Tregony in Cornwall , but for the general election of 1722 he was nominated and elected as the Whigs' candidate for Durham by his father, who had become Bishop of Durham the previous year . In the House of Commons he supported the government with numerous speeches. On April 23, 1726 he became Solicitor General . In this position he worked closely with the Attorney General , his friend Sir Philip Yorke , for the next seven years . Following the death of Lord Chief Justice Robert Raymond and the resignation of Lord Chancellor Peter King , Talbot became Lord Chancellor on November 29, 1733 at the suggestion of Prime Minister Walpole , while Yorke became Lord Chief Justice. Formally Yorke would have had more claims to the office of Lord Chancellor, but Walpole considered Talbot unsuitable for the office of Lord Chief Justice because of his poor knowledge of common law , instead he increased Yorke's salary as Lord Chief Justice. On December 5, 1733 Talbot was raised to Baron Talbot of Hensol , which he became a member of the House of Lords and lost his mandate as MP. As Lord Chancellor, he continued to work closely with Yorke.

Family and offspring

In the summer, probably in June 1708, Talbot married Cecil Matthews, a daughter of Charles Matthews of Castell-y-Mynach in Glamorgan . His wife was the granddaughter and heir to Judge David Jenkins of Hensol . In Hensol, Talbot built a new mansion in the Neo-Tudor style . He had several children including:

• Charles Richard Talbot († 1733)
• William Talbot (1710–1782)
• John Talbot († 1756)
• George Talbot († 1782)

After his death, his eldest surviving son, William, inherited the title.

Web links

Commons : Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Cracroft's Peerage: Talbot of Hensol, Baron (GB, 1733)
• William Llewelyn Davies: Talbot, Charles (Welsh Biography Online)
• RS Lea: TALBOT, Charles (1685-1737), of Castell-y-Mynach, Glam. (History of Parliament online)