Charles Christopher Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham, (; 29 April 178129 April 1851) was an English lawyer, judge and politician. He was twice

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 ...

Background and education

Cottenham was born in London, the second son of Sir William Pepys, 1st Baronet, a

master in chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equ ...

, who was descended from John Pepys, of

Cottenham Cottenham is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. Cottenham is one of the larger villages surrounding the city of Cambridge, located around five miles north of the city. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 6095. Cottenham ...

, Cambridgeshire, a great-uncle of Samuel Pepys the diarist. Educated at Harrow School 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. ...

, Pepys was called to the bar of Lincoln's Inn in 1804.

Legal and political career

Cottenham's progress was slow practising at the Chancery Bar. Not until 22 years after his call was he made a King's Counsel. He sat in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

successively for

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 ...

and Malton, became Solicitor General in 1834 and

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and Head of Civil Justice. As a judge, the Master of ...

in the same year. On the formation of

Lord Melbourne William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first pre ...

's second administration in April 1835, the great seal was in commission for a time, but Cottenham, who had been a commissioner, was eventually appointed

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 January 1836 and at the same time was raised to the peerage as Baron Cottenham of Cottenham in the County of Cambridge. He held office until the ministry's defeat in August 1841.

Earldom

In February 1841, during the trial of Lord Cardigan for attempted murder, Cottenham claimed ill health, leaving the task of presiding as

Lord High Steward The Lord High Steward is the first of the Great Officers of State in England, nominally ranking above the Lord Chancellor. The office has generally remained vacant since 1421, and is now an ''ad hoc'' office that is primarily ceremonial and ...

to the

Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or a ...

, Lord Denman. In 1846 he again became Lord Chancellor in Lord John Russell's administration. His health, however, was failing and he resigned in 1850. Shortly before retirement, he was created Viscount Crowhurst, of Crowhurst in the County of Surrey, and Earl of Cottenham, of Cottenham in the County of Cambridge. He lived at Prospect Place, Wimbledon in 1831–1851. He had succeeded his elder brother as third Baronet in 1845, and in 1849 his cousin as fourth Baronet of Juniper Hill.

Family

Lord Cottenham married Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of William Wingfield-Baker, in 1821 and had five sons and three daughters. He died at Pietra Santa,

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one ...

in the Italian Grand Duchy of Tuscany in April 1851, aged 70, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles, who was at the time

Clerk of the Crown in Chancery A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service c ...

. Lady Cottenham died in April 1868, aged 66 at The Cedars in Sunninghill, Berkshire. Cottenham's niece

Emily Pepys Emily Pepys (9 August 1833 – 12 September 1877) was an English child diarist, whose account of six months of her life provides a vivid insight into a wealthy bishop's family. She was a collateral descendant of the diarist Samuel Pepys. Biogra ...

(1833–1887), daughter of Henry Pepys, Bishop of

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

, was a child diarist. Her work was not rediscovered and published until 1984.Gillian Avery, ed., ''The Journal of Emily Pepys'' (London: Prospect Books, 1984. ).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cottenham, Charles Pepys, 1st Earl Of Lord chancellors of Great Britain Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1831–1832 UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 English King's Counsel Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom 1781 births 1851 deaths Solicitors General for England and Wales Masters of the Rolls Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Younger sons of baronets People from Cottenham Pepys family 19th-century English lawyers Peers of the United Kingdom created by William IV Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria People educated at Harrow School