John Duke Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge, PC (3 December 1820 – 14 June 1894) was an English lawyer, judge and

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician. He held the posts, in turn, of

Solicitor General for England and Wales His Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, known informally as the Solicitor General, is one of the law officers of the Crown in the government of the United Kingdom. They are the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to ad ...

Attorney General for England and Wales His Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales is one of the law officers of the Crown and the principal legal adviser to sovereign and Government in affairs pertaining to England and Wales. The attorney general maintains the Attorney G ...

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas The chief justice of the Common Pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, which was the second-highest common law court in the English legal system until 1875, when it, along with the othe ...

and Lord Chief Justice of England.

Background and education

Coleridge was the eldest son of John Taylor Coleridge, and the great-nephew of the poet

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...

. He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, and was called to the bar in 1846. Coleridge was a member of the

Canterbury Association The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by members of parliament, peers, and Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The settlement was to be called Canterbury, with its capital to be known as Christchurch ...

from 24 June 1851.

Legal career

Coleridge established a successful legal practice on the western circuit. From 1853 to 1854 he held the post of secretary to the Royal Commission on the City of London. In 1865 he was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

for Exeter for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. He made a favourable impression on the leaders of his party and when the Liberals came to office in 1868 under

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

, Coleridge was appointed Solicitor-General. In 1871 he was promoted to

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, a post he held until 1873. In 1871 he was also involved in the high-publicity

Tichborne Case The Tichborne case was a legal ''cause célèbre'' that captivated Victorian England in the 1860s and 1870s. It concerned the claims by a man sometimes referred to as Thomas Castro or as Arthur Orton, but usually termed "the Claimant", to be t ...

. In 1873 he was described by the Manchester-based '' Women's Suffrage Journal'' as a "firm and consistent" supporter of women's suffrage. In November 1873 Coleridge succeeded Sir William Bovill as

, and in January 1874 was raised to the peerage as Baron Coleridge, of Ottery St Mary in the County of Devon. In 1875, the three English common law courts (the Court of Queen's Bench, the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

, and the Court of the Exchequer) merged to become divisions of the new

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (Englan ...

. The head of each court (Lord Chief Justice Sir Alexander Cockburn, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Lord Coleridge, and Chief Baron of the Exchequer Sir

Fitzroy Kelly Sir Fitzroy Edward Kelly (9 October 1796 – 18 September 1880) was an English commercial lawyer, 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 Rob ...

) continued in post. After the deaths of Kelly and Cockburn in 1880, the three divisions were merged into a single division, with Lord Coleridge as Lord Chief Justice of England. In 1884, he was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. Despite his health failing towards the end of his life he remained in this office until his death on 14 June 1894, aged 74.

Family

On 11 August 1846, Coleridge married Jane Fortescue Seymour, daughter of the Rev. George Turner Seymour of

Freshwater, Isle of Wight Freshwater is a large village and civil parish at the western end of the Isle of Wight, England. The southern, coastal part of the village is Freshwater Bay, named for the adjacent small cove. Freshwater sits at the western end of the ...

, herself an accomplished artist who notably painted

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...

. They had three sons and a daughter: * Mildred Mary Coleridge (1847–1929), married

Charles Warren Adams Charles Warren Adams (1833–1903) was an English lawyer, publisher and anti-vivisectionist, now known from documentary evidence to have been the author of '' The Notting Hill Mystery''. This is often taken to be the first full-length detective ...

* Bernard John Seymour Coleridge (1851–1927), Liberal MP and judge of the High Court, succeeded as 2nd Baron Coleridge * Stephen William Buchanan Coleridge (1854–1936), barrister, author and landscape artist * Gilbert James Duke Coleridge (1859–1953), barrister and sculptor His first wife died on 6 February 1878. He remained a widower until 13 August 1885, when he married Amy Augusta Jackson Lawford, daughter of Henry Baring Lawford, who survived him. When Coleridge's daughter Mildred went to live with the lawyer

– they married in 1885, Lord Coleridge refusing to attend the wedding – the family considered the match inappropriate. Mildred's brother Bernard wrote her a letter disparaging Adams as a fortune hunter, which prompted Adams to sue for libel. The resultant legal proceedings in November 1884 and November 1886 were highly embarrassing for Lord Coleridge, who was obliged as Lord Chief Justice to appear in the court of which he was the senior judge.

Leading cases and judgements

*'' R v Coney'' (1882) *''

R v Dudley and Stephens ''R v Dudley and Stephens'' (188414 QBD 273, DCis a leading English criminal case which established a precedent throughout the common law world that necessity is not a defence to a charge of murder. The case concerned survival cannibalism foll ...

'' (1884) *''Gordon-Cumming v Wilson and Others'' (1891), the trial arising from the Royal Baccarat Scandal.

Arms

References

*A short notice of her by Dean Church of St Paul's was published in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', and was reprinted in her husband's privately printed collection of poems. *

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coleridge, John Duke 1820 births 1894 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Chief Justices of the Common Pleas

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

People educated at Eton College Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Lord chief justices of England and Wales Attorneys General for England and Wales Solicitors General for England and Wales UK MPs 1865–1868 UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs who were granted peerages Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Canterbury Association Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Knights Bachelor Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Presidents of the Oxford Union Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Exeter Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria Members of the American Philosophical Society