Monarch George III Preceded by The Earl Gower Name Henry 2nd Parents Catherine Apsley | Prime Minister Lord North Succeeded by The Earl Camden Role Politician Education Balliol College | |
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Died August 6, 1794, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom Children Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst Siblings Honourable Benjamin Bathurst Similar People Arthur Wellesley - 1st Duke, Gerald Wellesley - 7th Duke, Richard Wellesley - 1st Marqu, Benjamin Dean Wyatt, Robert Adam | ||
Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst PC, KC (20 May 1714 – 6 August 1794), known as The Lord Apsley from 1771 to 1775, was a British lawyer and politician. He was Lord Chancellor of Great Britain from 1771 to 1778.
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Background and education
Bathurst was the eldest son of Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst, and his wife Catherine (nee Apsley). Educated at Balliol College, Oxford, he was called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1736, and became a King's Counsel in 1745.
Political and judicial career
In April 1735 he had been elected member of parliament for Cirencester, and was rewarded for his opposition to the government by being made solicitor-general and then attorney-general to Frederick, Prince of Wales. Resigning his seat in parliament in April 1754 he was made a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in the following month. He was admitted to the Privy Council and appointed Lord High Chancellor in January 1771, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Apsley, in the County of Sussex. Having succeeded his father as second Earl Bathurst in September 1775, he resigned his office somewhat unwillingly in July 1778 to enable Lord Thurlow to join the cabinet of Lord North. In November 1779 he was appointed Lord President of the Council, and left office with North in March 1782.
Family
Lord Bathurst married firstly Anne James in 1754. After her death in 1758 he married secondly Tryphena, daughter of Thomas Scawen, in 1759. He died at Oakley Grove near Cirencester on 6 August 1794, aged 80, and was succeeded in the earldom by his son from his second marriage, Henry. Lady Bathurst died in 1807. Apsley House, in Hyde Park, known as "Number One London", was built for him by Robert Adam. It was sold in 1807 to the first Marquess of Wellesley, who sold it in 1817 to his famous brother, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.