John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst (
1772 –
1863), Lord Chancellor of
England, was a
British politician.
He was born at
Boston, Massachusetts. The son of
painter John Singleton Copley, he was educated at a private school and Cambridge University. Called to the bar at
Lincolns Inn in
1804, he gained a considerable practice. In
1817 he was one of the counsel for Dr J. Watson, tried for his share in the Spa Fields riot. Copley's performance attracted the attention of
Viscount Castlereagh and other
Tory leaders, and he entered parliament as member for
Yarmouth in the
Isle of Wight. He afterwards sat for
Ashburton (
1818-1826) and for
Cambridge University (
1826-1827).
In 1819, the year he became
Solicitor General, he married the widow of Lieut.-Col. Charles Thomas of the Coldstream Guards. He became
Attorney-General in
1824, Master of the Rolls in 1826 and
Lord Chancellor in
1827, with the title of
Lord Lyndhurst.
As solicitor-general he took a prominent part in the trial of
Queen Caroline and was opposed to the
Liberal measures which marked the end of the reign of
George IV and the beginning of that of
William IV. He was Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer from
1831 to
1834. During the
Melbourne government from
1835 to
1841 he figured conspicuously as an obstructionist in the
House of Lords. His former adversary
Lord Brougham, disgusted at his treatment by the Whig leaders, soon became his most powerful ally in opposition. Lyndhurst held the chancellorship from
1827-1830, 1834-1835, and
1841-1846. As he was in regard to Catholic emancipation, so in the agitation against the
Corn Laws, he opposed reform until Peel, his chief, gave the signal for concession.
After
1846 and the disintegration of the Tory party over Peel's adoption of free trade, Lord Lyndhurst did not attend parliament sessions as often, but he continued to take a lively interest in public affairs and to make speeches. His address to the House of Lords on
19 June 1854, on the war with
Russia, made a sensation in Europe, and throughout the
Crimean War he was a strong advocate of the energetic prosecution of hostilities. In
1859 he denounced the restless ambition of
Napoleon III. His last speech was delivered in the House of Lords at the age of eighty-nine. His first wife had died in 1834, and in August 1837 he had married Georgina, daughter of
Lewis Goldsmith. She was Jewish; and it was therefore natural that he strenuously supported the admission of Jews into parliament. He also advocated women's rights in questions of divorce. He died in London on
12 October 1863. He left no male issue, and the title became extinct.
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