HARDWICKE, PHILIP YORKE, rum EARL or, was the son of an attorney at Dover, where he was born on the 1st of December 1690. His father was in very indifferent circnmstances, and wholly unable to afford him the education generally bestowed upon young men In hie station of life. The great abilities of the son enabled him however to surmount all difficulties. lie was a great favourite with Mr. Samuel Morland, a man of considerable learning, who kept school at Bethnal Green, at which he was placed for a short time. When removed to the office of Mr. Salkeld, an eminent solicitor In London, his diligence and talents won the respect and esteem of that gentleman also. So steady was his perseverance, and ao rapid his progress in the knowledge of the law, that Mr. Salkeld caused him to be entered of the Middle Temple in November 1708, as a preparatory step to his call to the bar. During the time he was keeping his terms he became acquainted with Mr. Parker, one of the sons of Lord Chief-Justice Maccleefield, the consequence of which was an intro duction to Lord Macclesfield, who highly appreciated Yorke's merits, and employed him as the companion and tutor of his sons. To this fortunate acquaintance the rapid and extraordinary success of Mr. Yorke at the bar is mainly attributable. In May 1715 he was called to the bar, when the support of his old benefactor Salkeld, who was in very extensive practice as a solicitor, together with the favour and patronage of Lord Macclesfield, enabled him at the very outset to acquire an extensive practice : indeed the favouritism of Lord Maccles field, even in court, justly offended and aggrieved many old and eminent practitioners.
The elevation of Lord Macclesfield to the woolsack (1719) enabled him further to promote the interests of his favourite, and accordingly, through his interference, in the same year Yorke took his seat in the House of Commons as member for Lewes, the whole expenses of his election being defrayed by the ministry. In the same year he married Mrs. Lygon, a young widow, the daughter of Mr. Cocks, a gentleman of good estate in Worcestershire, and the niece of Lord Somers and Sir Joseph Jekyl, then master of the rolls.
In March 1720, while upon the circuit, and within five years after his call to the bar, he was, through the influence of his patron the chancellor, appointed solicitor-general. This step was a very hazardous one; for besides the professional jealousy which was perhaps not unjustly excited towards him, he had to contend with the doubts felt by all parties whether so young a man could be possessed of sufficient learning and experience to discharge the duties of a leading counsel. The talents however which he displayed in the conduct of the business in which he was employed soon made it evident that he was fully equal to the duties of his new station. Shortly after his appointment
he was knighted ; and in 1721 he was made attorney-general. It was after this period that his patron, Lord Macclesfield, was impeached for gross corruption in office, and Sir Philip Yorke had great difficulty in procuring himself to be excused from the task of assisting the managers of the Commons In making good their charge. In 1733, having held the office of attorney-general nearly ten years, he was appointed Lord Chief-Justice of the King's Bench, and created Baron Hardwicke. He presided in the King's Bench for three years and a half, during which period he added largely to his former high repu tation. On the death of Lord Chancellor Talbot (1737) he was raised to the dignity of lord chancellor. It is upon his judgments as chan cellor that the reputation of Lord Hardwicko is principally founded ; he held the great seal during nearly twenty years, dispensing justice throughout that period with the most consummate skill at a time when the principles of equity jurisdiction were by no means in a settled state. His integrity was never called iu question ; the wisdom of his decrees was the theme of universal eulogy, and it is a remark able fact that, during the whole time that he presided in tho Court of Chaucery, three only of his judgments were appealed from, and those were confirmed by the House of Lords. In 1754 he was created Earl of Ilardwicke and Viscount Royston. Ile continued to bold the great seal until the 19th of November 1756; the Duke of Newcastle having resigned the premiership on the 11th. After his retirement from public life, Lord Hardivicke divided his time between hie seat at Witnpole in Cambridgeshire and his house in Grosvenor-square, enjoy ing unimpaired his vigorous intellect until nearly the close of his seventy-third year, when he was attacked by a disorder which proved fatal on the 6th of March 1764. The labours of Lord Hardwicke's mind are recorded in his legal judgments. They are preserved, so far as the points decided by them, in the reports of Atkyna and Vesey, sen., and in a volume published from Lord Hardwicke's owu notes by Mr. West.. Some notes of his decisions have also been made public by Mr. Lee. These volumes however do not give any notion of the language in which the judgments were delivered. Few speci mens of his style of writing remain. A abort treatise, ' A Discourse of the Judicial Authority of the Master of the Rolls,' has been attri buted to him, and some few letters have been preserved by Dr. Birch. It has also been said that .ho was the author of the paper in the 'Spectator' for the 28th of April 1712, signed Philip Homebred; but this statement is exceedingly doubtfuL