COPLEY, JOHN SINGLETON, Lard Lyndhurst (1772-1803). A British lawyer and statesman, four times Lord Chancellor of England. lie was the son of J. S. Copley, R.A.. and was born in Boston, Mass., May 21. 1772. While yet an infant, his father removed to England for the practice of his art. Ile was educated at Trinity College. Cambridge, where he was second wrangler and Smith's prizeman in 1794. In 1795-96, as a traveling bachelor and fellow of his college, he visited the United States, and in company with the French author Volney made a tour which he described in Latin letters to the vice-chan cellor of his university. Called to the bar at. Lincoln's Inn in 1804, he chose the Midland cir cuit, but did not achieve financial success until 1812, when his defense of a Luddite at Notting ham established his reputation. In politics be was at first a Liberal, and long expressed senti ments hostile to the Ministry of the day. Pe ably defended Watson and Thistlewood on their trial for high treason in 1817, and obtained their acquittal. In ISIS he entered Parliament; in 1819 Ile became Solicitor-General in the Liverpool administration and was knighted. and in 1S24 he was promoted to the rank of Attorney-General. Iu 18211 he became Master of the Rolls. When Canning was charged to form a Ministry in 1827. he offered the Great Seal to Sir John Copley, who was raised to the Upper House as Baron Lynd hurst, and Chancellor from 1827 to 1830. In 1831 lie became Lord Chief Baron of
the Exchequer. which office he exchanged for the woolsack during the brief administration of Sir Robert Peel in 1834-35. In 1835 he led the opposi tiou to the Melbourne _Ministry in the Upper House, in speeches of great power and brilliancy. Lyndhurst's orations and annual reviews of the session did much to reanimate the Conservative Party, and pave the way for their return to power in 1841. He then became Lord Chancellor for the third time, and held the Great Seal until the defeat of the Peel Government in 1846. After that time he took little part in home politics; but his voice was often heard on matters of foreign policy, and in denunciation of tyranny in Italy and elsewhere. He died in London, October 12, 1863. Lord Lyndhurst's high at tainments as a lawyer have never been ques tioned, and his judgments have never been ex celled for clearness, method. and legal acumen. In the House of Peers he had few equals among his contemporaries as a brilliant orator and de bater. He delivered his last speech in Parliament at the age of eighty-eight with his usual force and ability. Consult _Martin, Life of Lord Lynd hurst (London, 1883).