Sir Fitzroy Edward Kelly (9 October 1796 – 18 September 1880) was an English

commercial law Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branc ...

yer, Tory politician and judge. He was the last Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer

Background and education

Kelly was born in London, the son of Robert Hawke Kelly (died in or before 1807), a captain in the Royal Navy. His mother was the novelist Isabella Kelly, daughter of Captain William Fordyce, Groom of the Privy Chamber to George III. In 1824, he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

, having already gained a reputation as a skilled special pleader.

Career

In 1834 Kelly was made a

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

, remarkably after only ten years' call. A strong Tory, he was returned as Member of Parliament for Ipswich in 1835, but was unseated on petition. In 1837 however he again became member for that town. From 1843 to 1847 he was MP for Cambridge, and in 1852 was elected member for

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

, but with a vacancy suddenly occurring in

East Suffolk East Suffolk may refer to the following places in Suffolk, England: * East Suffolk (county), a county until 1974 * East Suffolk District, a local government district established in 2019 * East Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency), an electoral dist ...

, he preferred to contest that seat and was elected. Most of his legal cases were of a commercial nature, but one was one of the great criminal poisoning crimes of the early Victorian period. In March 1845 Kelly defended John Tawell, the "

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

murderer," was in fact no longer a member of the Quakers, though he did try to return to that group. Tawell had poisoned his mistress, Sarah Hart, and fled from Salt Hill in

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

by train. However, a description of Tawell was sent to London by electric telegraph, and he was captured. Kelly did the best he could for his client, but he was not accustomed to criminal defense. His argument that Sarah Hart had eaten too many apple pips and been poisoned by the prussic acid in the pips led to the nickname "Apple-pip," which followed Kelly for the rest of his life. Despite his endeavours, his client was found guilty and hanged. Kelly was Solicitor-General in 1845 (when he was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

) and again from February to December 1852, during which time he was junior to Attorney-General Sir Frederic Thesiger in the prosecution of John Henry Newman for

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

, the

Achilli trial Giovanni Giacinto Achilli (; ''c.'' 1803 – ''c.'' 1860) was an Italian Roman Catholic Dominican friar and anti-Jesuit who was discharged from the priesthood and imprisoned by the Roman Inquisition for being falsely accusedKer (2004)Ward (191 ...

. In 1858–1859 he was Attorney General in Lord Derby's second ministry. In 1866 he was raised to the bench as the last Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and made a member of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

, entitling him to sit on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Kelly died at

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

on 18 September 1880, aged 83. He was buried on the western side of Highgate Cemetery. Grave of Sir Fitzroy Edward Kelly in Highgate Cemetery

Arms

References

Bibliography

* * * * Gowing, Richard (1875) 'Sir Fitzroy Kelly, Lord Chief Baron' in: Richard Gowing ''Public Men of Ipswich and East Suffolk. a series of personal sketches''. Ipswich: Scopes; London: Grant & Co., 1875; pp. 71–78

External links