John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst
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The Right Honourable The Lord Lyndhurst PC QS FRS |
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| Lord Chancellor | |
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In office 2 May 1827 – 24 November 1830 |
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| Monarch |
George IV William IV |
| Prime Minister |
George Canning The Viscount Goderich The Duke of Wellington |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Eldon |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Brougham and Vaux |
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In office 21 November 1834 – 8 April 1835 |
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| Monarch | William IV |
| Prime Minister | Sir Robert Peel, Bt |
| Preceded by | The Lord Brougham and Vaux |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Cottenham |
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In office 3 September 1841 – 27 June 1846 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | Sir Robert Peel, Bt |
| Preceded by | The Lord Cottenham |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Cottenham |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
21 May 1772 Boston, Massachusetts British America |
| Died | 21 October 1863 (aged 91) London, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Tory |
| Spouse(s) | (1) Sarah Brunsden (d. 1834) (2) Georgina Goldsmith |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst PC QS FRS (21 May 1772 – 12 October 1863), was a British lawyer and politician. He was three times Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.
Lyndhurst was born at Boston, Massachusetts, the son of painter John Singleton Copley and his wife Susanna Farnham (née Clarke), and was educated at a private school and Trinity College, Cambridge where he graduated as second wrangler.
Called to the bar at Lincolns Inn in 1804, he gained a considerable practice. He was appointed a serjeant-at-law on 6 July 1813. In 1817 he was one of the counsel for Dr J. Watson, tried for his share in the Spa Fields riots. Lyndhurst's performance attracted the attention of Lord Castlereagh and other Tory leaders, and he entered parliament as member for Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight. He afterwards sat for Ashburton (1818–1826) and for Cambridge University (1826–1827).
In December 1818, Copley was made King's Serjeant and Chief Justice of Chester. He became Solicitor General on 24 July 1819 and was knighted in October, became Attorney General in 1824, Master of the Rolls in 1826 and Lord Chancellor in 1827. On his appointment to the latter post he was raised to the peerage as Baron Lyndhurst, of Lyndhurst in the County of Southampton. As solicitor-general he took a prominent part in the trial of Queen Caroline and was opposed to the Liberal measures which marked the end of the reign of George IV and the beginning of that of William IV. He was Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer from 1831 to 1834. During the Melbourne government from 1835 to 1841 he figured conspicuously as an obstructionist in the House of Lords. His former adversary Lord Brougham, disgusted at his treatment by the Whig leaders, soon became his most powerful ally in opposition. Lyndhurst held the chancellorship from 1827–1830, 1834–1835, and 1841–1846. As he was in regard to Catholic emancipation, so in the agitation against the Corn Laws, he opposed reform until Peel, his chief, gave the signal for concession.
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