Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, (1 December 16906 March 1764) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
and politician who served as
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
. He was a close confidant of
the Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister between 1754 and 1756 and 1757 until 1762.
Background
A son of Philip Yorke, an
attorney, he was born at
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
. Through his mother, Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Richard Gibbon of Rolvenden,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, he was connected with the family of
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, is k ...
the historian. He was educated at a school in
Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common land, Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heat ...
run by
Samuel Morland
Sir Samuel Morland, 1st Baronet (1625 – 30 December 1695), or Moreland, was an English academic, diplomat, spy, inventor and mathematician of the 17th century, a polymath credited with early developments in relation to computing, hydraulics a ...
, a nonconformist.
At age 16, Yorke entered the attorney's office of Charles Salkeld in
Holborn
Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London.
The area has its roots ...
, London. He was entered at the
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...
in November 1708, and perhaps recommended by his employer to
Lord Chief Justice Parker as law tutor to his sons.
In 1715, Yorke 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 ...
, where his progress was, says
Lord Campbell, more rapid than that of any other debutant in the annals of our profession, his advancement being greatly furthered by the patronage of Macclesfield, who became Lord Chancellor in 1718, when Yorke transferred his practice from the king's bench to the court of chancery, though he continued to go on the western circuit. In the following year he established his reputation as an equity lawyer in a case in which
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...
's family was interested, by an argument displaying profound learning and research concerning the jurisdiction of the chancellor, on lines which he afterwards more fully developed in a celebrated letter to
Lord Kames
Henry Home, Lord Kames (169627 December 1782) was a Scottish writer, philosopher, advocate, judge, and agricultural improver. A central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, a founding member of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, and act ...
on the distinction between law and equity.
Through Macclesfield's influence with the
Duke of Newcastle
Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Marquess of Newcastle ...
Yorke entered parliament in 1719 as member for
Lewes
Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...
, and was appointed solicitor-general, with a
knighthood
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 church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
, in 1720, although he was then a barrister of only four years standing.
![Margaret Cocks](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Margaret_Cocks.jpg)
Although in his youth he contributed to ''
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'' over the signature Philip Homebred, he seems early to have abandoned all care for literature, and he has been reproached by Lord Campbell and others with his neglect of art and letters. On 16 May 1719 he married Margaret, daughter of
Charles Cocks (by his wife Mary Cocks, sister of
Lord Chancellor Somers) and widow of William Lygon (who died without issue in 1716), by whom he had five sons and two daughters:
*
Philip Yorke, Viscount Royston
Philip Yorke, Viscount Royston (7 May 1784 – 7 April 1808), was a British traveller and politician.
Yorke was the eldest son of Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke and Lady Elizabeth, daughter of James Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres. He was th ...
(1720–1790), who succeeded him
*
Hon. Charles Yorke (1722–1770), became, like his father, Lord Chancellor
* Lady Elizabeth Yorke (1725–1760), married
Lord Anson
Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson, (23 April 1697 – 6 June 1762) was a Royal Navy officer. Anson served as a junior officer during the War of the Spanish Succession and then saw active service against Spain at the Batt ...
*
Hon. Joseph Yorke (d. 1792), a diplomat, created Baron Dover
*
Hon. John Yorke (1728–1801),
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Reigate
Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earlie ...
and
Higham Ferrers
Higham Ferrers is a market town and civil parish in the Nene Valley in North Northamptonshire, England, close to the Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire borders. It forms a single built-up area with Rushden to the south and has an estimated popula ...
*
Hon. James Yorke (1730–1808), became
Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of nort ...
* Lady Margaret Yorke, married
Sir Gilbert Heathcote, Bt
![Wimpole Hall 2014-03-19 (1)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Wimpole_Hall_2014-03-19_%281%29.JPG)
In 1739, he purchased
Wimpole Hall
Wimpole Estate is a large estate containing Wimpole Hall, a country house located within the civil parish of Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, England, about southwest of Cambridge. The house, begun in 1640, and its of parkland and farmland are owned ...
, the greatest country house in Cambridgeshire.
He is buried, with many of his descendants, at the St. Andrew Churchyard at Wimpole. Hardwicke was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son,
Philip
Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...
. His monument was sculpted by
Peter Scheemakers
Peter Scheemakers or Pieter Scheemaeckers II or the Younger (10 January 1691 – 12 September 1781) was a Flemish sculptor who worked for most of his life in London. His public and church sculptures in a classicist style had an important influenc ...
.
[Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis]
His cousin
Sir William Yorke, 1st Baronet had a highly successful career as a judge in Ireland, becoming
Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas
The chief justice of the Common Pleas for Ireland was the presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland, which was known in its early years as the Court of Common Bench, or simply as "the Bench", or "the Dublin bench". It was one of the s ...
.
Career
Attorney-General
The prosecution of
Christopher Layer
Christopher Layer (1683–1723) was an English Jacobite conspirator, executed for high treason in 1723 for his part in what became known as the Atterbury Plot.
Early life
Born on 12 November 1683, he was the son of John Layer, a laceman, of Dur ...
for
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
as a
Jacobite raised Yorke's reputation as a forensic orator; and in 1723, having already become attorney-general, he passed through 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. ...
the bill of pains and penalties against
Francis Atterbury
Francis Atterbury (6 March 1663 – 22 February 1732) was an English man of letters, politician and bishop. A High Church Tory and Jacobite, he gained patronage under Queen Anne, but was mistrusted by the Hanoverian Whig ministries, and ban ...
. He was excused, on the ground of his personal friendship, from acting for the crown in the
impeachment
Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In ...
of Macclesfield in 1725; he soon found a new patron in the
Duke of Newcastle
Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Marquess of Newcastle ...
.
Lord Hardwicke is also remembered as one of the two authors of the
Yorke–Talbot slavery opinion whilst he was a crown law officer in 1729. The opinion was sought to determinate the legality of slavery and Hardwicke (then Philip Yorke) and
Charles Talbot opined that it was legal. The opinion was disseminated and relied upon widely. Lord Hardwicke would subsequently endorse the views in the opinion in a judicial capacity in ''Pearne v Lisle'' (1749) Amb 75, 27 ER 47. He rendered valuable service to Walpole's government by his support of the bill for prohibiting loans to foreign powers (1730), of the increase of the army (1732) and of the
Excise Bill
The Excise Bill of 1733 was a proposal by the British government of Robert Walpole to impose an excise tax on a variety of products. This would have allowed Customs officers to search private dwellings to look for contraband untaxed goods. The per ...
(1733).
Walpole government
In 1733 Yorke was appointed lord chief justice of the king's bench, with the title of Lord Hardwicke, and was sworn of the privy council; and in 1737 he succeeded
Lord Talbot as Lord Chancellor, thus becoming a member of Walpole's cabinet. One of his first official acts was to deprive the poet
James Thomson of a small office conferred on him by Talbot.
House of Lords
Hardwicke's political importance was greatly increased by his move to the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
, where the incompetency of Newcastle threw on the chancellor the duty of defending the measures of the government. He resisted
Carteret's motion to reduce the army in 1738, and the resolutions hostile to Spain over the affair of
Captain Jenkins's ears. But when Walpole bent before the storm and declared war against
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, Hardwicke advocated energetic measures for its conduct; and he tried to keep the peace between Newcastle and Walpole. There is no sufficient ground for Horace Walpole's charge that the fall of Sir Robert was brought about by Hardwicke's treachery.
Wilmington government
No one was more surprised than himself when he retained the chancellorship in the following administration, and he resisted the proposal to indemnify witnesses against Walpole in one of his finest speeches in May 1742. He exercised a leading influence in the
Wilmington Cabinet; and when Wilmington died in August 1743, it was Hardwicke who put forward
Henry Pelham
Henry Pelham (25 September 1694 – 6 March 1754) was a British Whig statesman who served as 3rd Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1743 until his death in 1754. He was the younger brother of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, who ...
for the vacant office against the claims of
Pulteney. For many years from this time he was the controlling power in the government.
During the king's absences on the continent Hardwicke was left at the head of the council of regency; it thus fell to him to concert measures for dealing with the Jacobite rising in 1745. After
Culloden he presided at the trial of the Scottish Jacobite peers, his conduct of which, though judicially impartial, was neither dignified nor generous; and he must be held partly responsible for the severity meted out to the rebels, and especially for the executions on obsolete attainders of
Charles Radclyffe
Charles Radclyffe (3 September 1693 – 8 December 1746), titular 5th Earl of Derwentwater, was one of the few English participants in the Risings of 1715 and 1745.
The Radclyffes were Roman Catholics from Northumberland, with long-standing ...
and (in 1753) of
Archibald Cameron of Locheil
Archibald Cameron of Lochiel (1707 – 7 June 1753) was a Scottish physician and a prominent leader in the Jacobite rising of 1745. The personal physician of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, On 7 June 1753, at Tyburn, he was the last Jacobite to ...
. He carried out a major reform in 1746 which swept away the feudal power surviving in Scotland in the form of private heritable jurisdictions in the hands of the landed gentry. On the other hand, his legislation in 1748 for disarming the Highlanders and prohibiting the use of the tartan in their dress was vexatious without being effective. Hardwicke supported
Chesterfield
Chesterfield may refer to:
Places Canada
* Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan
* Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom
* Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England
** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
's reform of the calendar in 1751; in 1753 his bill for legalizing the naturalization of
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
s in England had to be dropped on account of the popular clamour it excited; but he successfully carried a
Marriage Act
Marriage Act may refer to a number of pieces of legislation:
Australia
* Marriage Act 1961, Australia's law that governs legal marriage.
* Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017
Canada
* ''Civil Marriage Act'' passed in ...
which became the basis of subsequent legislation.
Newcastle government
On the death of Pelham in 1754 Hardwicke obtained for Newcastle the post of
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
, and for reward was created earl of Hardwicke and Viscount Royston; and when in November 1756 the weakness of the ministry and the threatening aspect of foreign affairs compelled Newcastle to resign, Hardwicke retired with him. He played a part in negotiating the coalition between Newcastle and
Pitt in 1757, when he accepted a seat in Pitt's cabinet without returning to the
woolsack
The Woolsack is the seat of the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords, the Upper House of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Before 2006, it was the seat of the Lord Chancellor.
History
In the 14th century King Edward III (1327–1377) said th ...
. After the accession of
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
Hardwicke opposed the ministry of
Lord Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...
on the peace with France in 1762, and on the
cider tax in the following year. In the
Wilkes case Hardwicke condemned
general warrant
A writ of assistance is a written order (a writ) issued by a court instructing a law enforcement official, such as a sheriff or a tax collector, to perform a certain task. Historically, several types of writs have been called "writs of assistance ...
s, and also the doctrine that seditious
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 ...
s published by members of parliament were protected by
parliamentary privilege. He died in London on 6 March 1764.
Influence
In 1736 the King's Bench, under his presidency, delivered the seminal judgment in ''Middleton v. Crofts'' 2 Atk 650, which held that canons made in the provincial clergy convocations could not, by themselves, bind the lay faithful. He held the office of Lord Chancellor longer than any of his predecessors, with a single exception. His decisions fixed limits and established principles of
Equity
Equity may refer to:
Finance, accounting and ownership
* Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them
** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business
** Home equity, the dif ...
. His influence was powerful in obliterating the traditions of the judicial bench under the Stuart monarchy, and in establishing the modern conception of the duties and demeanour of English judges. While still at the bar Lord Chesterfield praised his conduct of crown prosecutions as a contrast to the former bloodhounds of the crown; and he described Sir Philip Yorke as naturally humane, moderate and decent.
Cases and legislation
;Cases
*''
Gyles v Wilcox
''Gyles v Wilcox'' (1740) 26 ER 489 was a decision of the Court of Chancery of EnglandSaunders (1992), 29. that established the doctrine of fair abridgement, which would later evolve into the concept of fair use. The case was heard and the opin ...
'' (1740) 3 Atk. 143, on fair use
*''
Attorney General v Davy'' (1741) 26 ER 531, on majority decision making in corporations
*''
The Charitable Corporation v Sutton
''The Charitable Corporation v Sutton'' (174226 ER 642is an important old English law case which holds in substance that a director of a company owes duties to the company in the same measure and quality as does a trustee to a trust. It makes th ...
'' (1742) 26 ER 642, on the duty of care
*''
Whelpdale v Cookson
''Whelpdale v Cookson'' (1747) 27 ER 856 is an English trusts law case, also relevant for UK company law, on the duty of loyalty owed by a trustee to beneficiaries of the trust.
Facts
A trustee purchased land that was owned by the trust.
Judgm ...
'' (1747) 1 Ves Sen 9, on the duty of loyalty and no inquiry rule
*''Pearne v. Lisle'' (1749) Amb 75, 27 ER 47
* ''
Penn v Lord Baltimore
''Penn v Lord Baltimore'' (1750) 1 Ves Sen 444 was a judicial decision of Lord Hardwicke LC in relation to the long-running Penn–Calvert boundary dispute.
The case is important both as a legal precedent under English law (in relation to the ...
'' (1750) 1 Ves Sen 444, in relation to the
Penn–Calvert boundary dispute
;Legislation
*
Marriage Act 1753
The Clandestine Marriages Act 1753, also called the Marriage Act 1753, long title "An Act for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage", popularly known as Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act (citation 26 Geo. II. c. 33), was the first statutor ...
See also
*
Great Britain in the Seven Years War
Great Britain was one of the major participants in the Seven Years' War, which in fact lasted nine years, between 1754 and 1763. British involvement in the conflict began in 1754 in what became known as the French and Indian War. However the w ...
References
Further reading
The contemporary authorities for the life of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke are voluminous, in the memoirs of the period and in collections of correspondence. See, especially:
*the Hardwicke Papers;
*the Stowe manuscripts;
*Hist. manuscripts Commission (Reports 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11);
*Horace Walpole, ''Letters'' (ed. by P Cunningham, 9 vols., London, 1857–1859) (Walpole was violently hostile to Hardwicke);
*''Letters to Sir H Mann'' (ed. by Lord Dover, 4 vols., London, 1843 1844)
*''Memoirs of the Reign of George II'' (ed. by
Lord Holland, 2nd ed. revised, London, 1847);
*''Memoirs of the Reign of George III'' (ed. by GFR Barker, 4 vols., London, 1894);
*''Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors of England, Scotland and Ireland'' (ed. by T Park, 5 vols., London, 1806).
See also:
*the Earl Waldegrave, ''Memoirs 1754–1758'' (London, 1821);
*Lord Chesterfield, ''Letters'' (ed. by Lord Mahon, 5 vols., London, 1892);
*Richard Cooksey, ''Essay on John, Lord Somers, and Philip, Earl of Hardwicke'' (Worcester, 1791);
*
William Coxe, ''Memoirs of Sir R. Walpole'' (4 vols., London, 1816);
*''Memoirs of the Administration of Henry Pelham'' (2 vols., London, 1829);
*Lord Campbell, ''Lives of the Lord Chancellors'', vol. v. (8 vols, London, 1845);
*
Edward Foss
Edward Foss (16 October 1787 – 27 July 1870) was an English lawyer and biographer. He became a solicitor, and on his retirement from practice in 1840, devoted himself to the study of legal antiquities. His ''Judges of England'' (9 vols., 1848 ...
, ''The Judges of England'', vols. vii. and viii. (9 vols., London, 1848–1864);
*
George Harris, ''Life of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke; with Selections from his Correspondence, Diaries, Speeches and Judgments'' (3 vols., London, 1847).
;Attribution
*
*
External links
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardwicke, Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of
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1
Peers of Great Britain created by George II
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Yorke, Philip
Yorke, Philip
British MPs 1715–1722
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Philip
Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...