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.

Background and education

Born at Cranworth, Norfolk, he was the elder son of the Reverend Edmund Rolfe and Jemima Alexander, James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon's niece and a granddaughter of physician Messenger Monsey. Rolfe, a relative of Admiral Lord

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, was educated at

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(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 ...

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, in 1816.

Legal and political career

Cranworth represented Penryn and Falmouth in Parliament from 1832 until he was appointed a Baron of the Exchequer 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 titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

in Lord Aberdeen's coalition ministry. In 1854, Cranworth was appointed to the Royal Commission for Consolidating the Statute Law, a

royal commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

to consolidate existing statutes and enactments of

English law English law is the common law list of national legal systems, legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly English criminal law, criminal law and Civil law (common law), civil law, each branch having its own Courts of England and Wales, ...

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

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865), known as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman and politician who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1855 to 1858 and from 1859 to 1865. A m ...

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'' (1841) *'' Aberdeen Rly Co v Blaikie Bros'' (1854) *'' Scott v Avery'' (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 Vice Chancellors (Court of Chancery)