William Forsyth QC (25 October 1812 – 26 December 1899) was a Scottish lawyer and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

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 o ...

(MP).

Early life and education

He was born at Greenock in

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Re ...

, son of merchant Thomas Forsyth, of

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

, and Jane Campbell, daughter of John Hamilton, of Deer Park, near Greenock, from a landed gentry family of Scottish origin that had settled at

Wilton, Herefordshire Wilton is a village in south Herefordshire, England just under a mile west of the market town of Ross-on-Wye. In 1100, Henry I set up three royal manors in Herefordshire, including the manor of Wilton. This included a number of surrounding vill ...

. His brother was the diplomat Sir Douglas Forsyth. He was educated at

Sherborne School (God and My Right) , established = 705 by Aldhelm, re-founded by King Edward VI 1550 , closed = , type = Public school Independent, boarding school , religion = Church of England , president = , chair_label = Chairman of the governors ...

and

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. ...

, where he graduated B.A. in 1834. He was admitted at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

in 1834 and called to the Bar in 1839.

Career

He became a Bencher of the Inner Temple in 1857,

Queen'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 o ...

in 1857 and Treasurer in 1872. He worked on the Midland Circuit. He was Standing Counsel to

Secretary of State for India His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India Secretary or the Indian Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of th ...

1859 to 1874. He was elected as MP for

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

at the 1865 general election but was unseated in April 1866, being disqualified as holding an office of profit under the Crown. He was later MP for

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it me ...

from 1874 to 1880. He wrote a number of books on historical and legal subjects, including ''History of Trial By Jury'' (1852), ''Life of Cicero'' (1864), ''The Novels and Novelists of the Eighteenth Century'' (1871) and ''Hannibal in Italy'' (1872). He was also editor of several magazines. Forsyth 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 1 May 1848 to 22 April 1850, when he resigned. In 1849, the chief surveyor of the Canterbury Association, Joseph Thomas, named

Lake Forsyth Lake Forsyth (known to Māori as Te Roto o Wairewa) is a lake on the south-western side of Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, near the eastern end of the much larger Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora. State Highway 75 to Akaro ...

for him. He died at

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End. Toponymy Knightsbridge is an ancien ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, and was buried in

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regi ...

in Surrey. His will probated at £18,667 in 1899.

Family

Forsyth was married twice. He was firstly married to Mary Lyall (daughter of George Lyall and Margaret Ann Edwards) (1819–1864), in 1843, by whom he had six children (two sons and four daughters). He remarried to Georgina Plummer in 1866; they also had children. His descendants and spouses of descendants include

Doreen Knatchbull, Baroness Brabourne Doreen Geraldine Knatchbull, Baroness Brabourne, DStJ (née Lady Doreen Geraldine Browne; 29 May 1896 – 28 August 1979) was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and socialite. She died as a result of her injuries following an attack by the Provisional ...

James Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope James Richard Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope, (11 November 1880 – 15 August 1967), styled Viscount Mahon until 1905, and known as the Earl Stanhope from 1905 until his death, was a British Conservative politician. Background Stanhope was the eld ...

and John Hamilton Wedgwood.

References

External links

* * * 1812 births 1899 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1865–1868 UK MPs 1874–1880 Scottish lawyers Politics of the City of Westminster People from Greenock People educated at Sherborne School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Members of the Inner Temple 19th-century King's Counsel Members of the Canterbury Association Burials at Brookwood Cemetery {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1810s-stub