Robert Monsey Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth, PC (18 December 1790 – 26 July 1868) was a British lawyer and Liberal politician. He twice 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. Th ...

Background and education

Born at

Cranworth Cranworth is a village and civil parish in the Breckland district of the English county of Norfolk. History Cranworth's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for an enclosed part of land with cranes and herons. In the ...

, Norfolk, he was the elder son of the Reverend Edmund Rolfe and Jemima Alexander,

James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon (1730 – 22 March 1802) was an Irish landlord, merchant, politician and member of the UK's House of Lords (upper chamber of parliament) as a representative peer for List of Irish representative peers, Northe ...

's niece and a granddaughter of physician

Messenger Monsey Messenger Monsey (baptised 30 October 1694, died 26 December 1788) was an English physician and humorist. He became physician to the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, a home for injured and elderly soldiers. Known for his eccentricity and ill manners, he ...

. Rolfe was related to Admiral Lord

Horatio Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought a ...

, he was educated at

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton ...

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the old ...

(of which he was elected fellow) and 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.) Lincol ...

, in 1816.

Legal and political career

Cranworth represented Penryn and Falmouth in Parliament from 1832 until he was appointed a

Baron of the Exchequer The Barons of the Exchequer, or ''barones scaccarii'', were the judges of the English court known as the Exchequer of Pleas. The Barons consisted of a Chief Baron of the Exchequer and several puisne (''inferior'') barons. When Robert Shute was ...

in 1839. In 1850 he was appointed a Vice-Chancellor and raised to the peerage as Baron Cranworth, of Cranworth in the County of Norfolk. In 1852 Lord Cranworth became

Lord Chancellor 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. Th ...

in Lord Aberdeen's

coalition ministry A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

. He continued to hold the chancellorship also in the administration of

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...

until the latter's resignation in 1858. Cranworth was not reappointed when Palmerston returned to office in 1859, but on the retirement of Lord Westbury in 1865 he accepted the office for a second time, and held it till the fall of the Russell administration in 1866.

Personal life

In 1845, Cranworth married Laura Carr (1807–1868), daughter of Thomas William Carr (born 1770). The couple had no children. Lord Cranworth died at his seat, Holwood House, on 26 July 1868, aged 77, after a short illness related to the heat. He was childless and the title became extinct on his death.

Cases

*''

Fouldes v. Willoughby ''Fouldes v Willoughby'' (1841) 8 M&W 540 is a leading English law case on the tort of conversion. Facts The owner of two horses had come on board a ferry from Birkenhead to Liverpool. The ferryman refused to carry the horses. The owner refuse ...

'' (1841) *''

Aberdeen Rly Co v Blaikie Bros ''Aberdeen Railway Co v Blaikie Brothers'' (1854is a UK company law case. It concerns the fiduciary duty of loyalty, and in particular, the duty not to engage in self-dealing. It laid down a basic rule that if a board of directors, director had ...

'' (1854) *''

Scott v Avery Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sask ...

'' (1855) *'' Jones v Lock'' (1865) *'' Rylands v. Fletcher'' judgment given 9 days before his death.

Arms

References

* *

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cranworth, Robert Monsey Rolfe, 1st Baron Lord chancellors of Great Britain Rolfe, Robert Monsey Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Rolfe, Robert Monsey Rolfe, Robert Monsey Rolfe, Robert Monsey UK MPs who were granted peerages 1790 births 1868 deaths Barons of the Exchequer Solicitors General for England and Wales People from Breckland District Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria