Name Roundell 1st | Succeeded by The Lord Cairns Role British Politician | |
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Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone Died May 4, 1895, Hampshire, United Kingdom Children Mary Waldegrave, Countess Waldegrave Books Ancient Facts and Fictions Concerning Churches and Tithes, Memorials: Family and Personal. 1766-1865 Grandchildren William Waldegrave, 10th Earl Waldegrave Political party Conservative Party, Liberal Party, Liberal Unionist Party | ||
Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne PC (27 November 1812 – 4 May 1895), was a British lawyer and politician. He served twice as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.
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Background and education
Selborne was born at Mixbury in Oxfordshire, where his father William Jocelyn Palmer was rector. His mother Dorothea was daughter of the Rev. William Roundell of Gledstone Hall, Yorkshire; and William Palmer and Edwin Palmer were his brothers. He was educated at Rugby School and Winchester College. He proceeded to the University of Oxford (entering Christ Church, moving to Trinity College upon receiving a scholarship, and becoming a Fellow of Magdalen College), graduating BA in 1834 and MA in 1836. While at University he became a close friend of the hymn writer and theologian, Frederick William Faber. He was called to the bar in 1837.
Political career
Selborne entered parliament as a Conservative in 1847. He joined the Peelite Conservatives who were to eventually help create the Liberal party in 1859. He served under Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell as Solicitor General between 1861 and 1863 and as Attorney General between 1863 and 1866.
Under Gladstone, he became Lord Chancellor in 1872 and was created Baron Selborne, of Selborne in the County of Southampton. His first tenure in the office saw the passage of the Judicature Act of 1873, which completely reorganised the judiciary. He served in the same office in Gladstone's Second Cabinet (1880–1885), and was created Viscount Wolmer, of Blackmoor in the County of Southampton, and Earl of Selborne in 1882. He broke with Gladstone, however, over Irish Home Rule, in 1885, and joined the Liberal Unionists.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1860.
Judicial Decisions
Family
Selborne married Lady Laura, daughter of William Waldegrave, 8th Earl Waldegrave, in 1848. They had five children: four daughters followed by a son. Their eldest, Laura Elizabeth (1849–1939), was an author and social reformer, who in 1876 married George Ridding, the first bishop of Southwell, and became known as Lady Laura Ridding. Their second, Mary Dorothea (1850–1933), married her first cousin, the 9th Earl Waldegrave in 1874. Their third, Sophia Matilda (1852–1915) married the Comte de Franqueville in 1903. Their fourth, Sarah Wilfreda (1854–1910) married her second cousin George Tournay Biddulph, the son of Robert Biddulph, in 1883. Their youngest, William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne, later became a prominent Unionist politician. Lady Selborne died in April 1885. Lord Selborne survived her by ten years and died in May 1895, aged 82.