Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lord Cottenham wearing ceremonial robes when presiding in the House of Lords as Lord Chancellor.
Lord Cottenham wearing ceremonial robes when presiding in the House of Lords as Lord Chancellor.

Charles Christopher Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham (29 April 178129 April 1851), a lawyer, judge, politician, and eventual Lord Chancellor of England, was born in London, England. He was the second son of Sir William W. Pepys, a master in chancery, who was descended from John Pepys, of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, a great-uncle of Samuel Pepys the diarist. Educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, Pepys was called to the bar at Lincolns Inn in 1804. Practicing at the chancery bar, his progress was extremely slow, and it was not till twenty-two years after his call that he was made a kings counsel. He sat in Parliament, successively, for Higham Ferrers and Malton, was appointed Solicitor General in 1834, and in the same year became Master of the Rolls. On the formation of Lord Melbourne's second administration in April 1835, the great seal was for a time in commission, but eventually Pepys, who had been one of the commissioners, was appointed Lord Chancellor (January 1836) with the title of Baron Cottenham. He held office until the defeat of the ministry in 1841. In 1846 he again became Lord Chancellor in Lord John Russell's administration. His health, however, had been gradually failing, and he resigned in 1850. Shortly before his retirement, he was created Viscount Crowhurst and Earl of Cottenham. He lived at Prospect Place, Wimbledon from 1831 to 1851 and died at Pietra Santa, in the duchy of Lucca.

Both as a lawyer and as a judge, Lord Cottenham was remarkable for his mastery of the principles of equity. An indifferent speaker, he nevertheless adorned the bench by the soundness of his law and the excellence of his judgments. As a politician, though, he was somewhat of a failure; his only contribution to the statute-book generally considered important was the Judgments Act of 1838, which amended the law for the relief of insolvent debtors.


Political offices
In commission
Title last held by
The Lord Lyndhurst
Lord Chancellor
1836 – 1841
Succeeded by
The Lord Lyndhurst
Preceded by
The Lord Lyndhurst
Lord Chancellor
1846 – 1850
Succeeded by
The Lord Truro
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Viscount Milton
Member of Parliament for Higham Ferrers
1831
Succeeded by
John Ponsonby
Preceded by
Lord Cavendish of Keighley
Member of Parliament for Malton
1831 – 1836
Succeeded by
John Childers
Legal offices
Preceded by
Sir John Campbell
Solicitor General
1834
Succeeded by
Sir Robert Rolfe
Preceded by
Sir John Leach
Master of the Rolls
1834 – 1836
Succeeded by
The Lord Langdale
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Earl of Cottenham
1850 – 1851
Succeeded by
Charles Edward Pepys
Baron Cottenham
1836 – 1851
Baronetage of Great Britain
Preceded by
Henry Leslie
Baronet
(of Juniper Hill)
1833 – 1851
Succeeded by
Charles Edward Pepys
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
William Pepys
Baronet
(of London)
1825 – 1851
Succeeded by
Charles Edward Pepys