LYNDHURST, lind'herst, John Singleton Copley, BARON, English lawyer and statesman: b. Boston, 21 May 1772; d. London, 12 Oct. 1863. His father was the well-known painter of the same name. He was taken to Eng land in early infancy, his parents having gone to reside in London. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, became a Fel low of Trinity College. traveled in the United States, was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1804 and soon gained a high position. In 1817 he ably defended Watson and Thistlewood for high treason, and obtained their acquittal. He was first known as a Liberal, but early be came Conservative. In 1818 he entered Parlia ment for Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, which he soon exchanged for Ashburton. In 1819 he be came solicitor-general and was knighted. He conducted the prosecution in the trial of Queen Caroline. In 1824 he succeeded to the post of Attorney-General, in 1826•was elected for Cam bridge, and became Master of the Rolls. He succeeded Lord Eldon as Chancellor in 1827, which post he retained until 1830, and was raised to the peerage as Baron Lyndhurst. In March 1829, he delivered a great speech against Catholic emancipation. He was chief
baron of the exchequer from 1831-34. He was a formidable opponent of the Reform Bill, and in 1834 became a second time Chancellor, but in 1835 retired with the Peel Ministry. Lynd hurst's speeches and annual reviews of the session contributed greatly to the return to power of the Conservatives in 1841, on which occasion he was a third time raised to the woolsack. He retired in 1846, from which time he took little part in home politics, confining his attention more to matters of foreign policy. For a long time he was virtually the Tory leader in the upper house. Brougham said: °Lyndhurst was so immeasurably superior to his contemporaries . . . that he might well be pardoned for looking down rather than prais ing.° He was distinguished alike as a debater, advocate and judge; his decisions were models in arrangement and clearness of exposition. Consult Sir Theodore Martin's 'Life) (1883) ; Atlay's 'The Victorian Chancellors) (London 1906) ; and, for a spiteful portrayal, Campbell's 'Lives of the Chancellors.)