John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst

John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst

John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst (born May 21, 1772 in Boston , Massachusetts , † October 12, 1863 in London ) was an English statesman .

Life

Three years after his birth in Massachusetts, the family moved to England, where his father, John Singleton Copley, enjoyed a reputation as an excellent portrait painter . He first studied theology at Cambridge, then law in London. From 1803 he practiced as a barrister and made a name for himself in particular in 1817 by defending the radicals Watson and Thistlewood, who were accused of treason. In 1816 he was as a deputy for the city Yarmouth to the House of Commons voted.

Appointed Solicitor General in 1819 , he appeared in the House of Lords as Prosecutor against Queen Caroline . In 1824 he was promoted to Attorney General , and in 1826 he received the post of Master of the Rolls . When George Canning was appointed prime minister in 1827, he was appointed Lord Chancellor (until 1830) and under the hereditary title Baron Lyndhurst , of Lyndhurst in the County of Southampton , to peer collected.

During the struggle for parliamentary reform, he was the most violent spokesman for the High Tories. In the Ministry that Robert Peel and Arthur Wellesley formed in November 1834, he again held the office of Lord Chancellor for a short time. Most passionately, he contradicted the concessions the Whigs wanted to make to Irish Catholics. From August 1841 to 1846 he held the office of Lord Chancellor for the third time under Peel.

Despite his old age and sickness, he has remained one of the most influential members of the House of Lords Conservative Party, where he was considered an authority on legal issues and a powerful speaker.

His speeches about the oriental politics of the government, about the war and peace agreement with Russia made him popular again to a high degree; This was no less the case when in 1859 and 1860 he cast his powerful voice against Napoleon III's policy of conquest . he lifted.

Lyndhurst died at the age of 90 after a brief illness on October 12, 1863 in London.

He was married twice, his first marriage from 1819 to Sarah Garay Brunsden († 1834), and his second marriage from 1837 to Georgiana Goldsmith. From his first marriage he left two daughters, Sophia Clarence († 1911) and Sarah Elizabeth († 1865), but no sons, so that his title of nobility expired upon his death.

literature

Theodore Martin: A life of Lord Lyndhurst from letters and papers in possession of his family . Publisher: J. Murray, London 1883
Hugh Chisholm : Lyndhurst, John Singleton Copley . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Volume 17. Cambridge University Press , 1911, p. 170.

Web links

Commons : John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst on thepeerage.com

Individual evidence

^ The London Gazette : No. 18355, p. 914 , April 24, 1827.

personal data
SURNAME	Copley, John, 1st Baron Lyndhurst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Copley, John Singleton, 1st Baron Lyndhurst; Lyndhurst, John Singleton Copley 1st Baron
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British politician, member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH	May 21, 1772
PLACE OF BIRTH	Boston
DATE OF DEATH	October 12, 1863
Place of death	London

[1] The London Gazette : No. 18355, p. 914 , April 24, 1827.