William Best, 1st Baron Wynford

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William Draper Best, 1st Baron Wynford, PC (December 13, 1767-March 3, 1845), was a British politician and judge. He served as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1824 to 1829.

Best was the third son of Thomas Best of Haselbury Plucknett in Somerset. He became a student at Wadham College, Oxford at the age of 15, but left at 17 without a degree. Originally destined for a career in the Church, he instead chose to study law, and entered the Middle Temple in 1784. Best was called to the bar in 1789 and established a successful legal practice. In 1802 he was elected to parliament for Petersfield as a Whig, a seat he held until 1806. After joining the Tories, he sat for Bridport from 1812 to 1817 and then represented Guildford from 1818 to 1819. In 1813 Best was appointed Solicitor-General to the Prince of Wales, which he remained until 1816, and was then Attorney-General to the Prince of Wales from 1816 to 1818. The following year he was made a Judge of the Common Pleas and knighted. Best was admitted to the Privy Council in 1824 and appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, in which post he remained until 1829. The latter year Best was raised to the peerage as Baron Wynford, of Wynford Eagle in the County of Dorset. Lord Wynford later served as a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords. Despite his earlier affiliation with the Whigs, he became known as an ardent Tory, and vigorously opposed the 1832 Reform Act. Lord Wynford suffered from gout for many years, and was carried into the House of Lords in an arm-chair, in which he was also allowed to address the rest of the house. However, he was later forced to retire from public life due to his illness.

Lord Wynford married Mary Anne Knapp, daughter of Jerome Knapp, in 1794. They had ten children. He died in March 1845, aged 77, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son William Samuel Best.

[edit] References

• Stephen, Sir Leslie, Lee, Sir Sidney (editors). The Dictionary of National Biography: Volume II Beal-Browell. London: Oxford University Press, 1917.
• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.

Legal offices
Preceded by The Lord Gifford	Chief Justice of the Common Pleas 1824–1828	Succeeded by Sir Nicholas Conyngham Tindal
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New Creation	Baron Wynford 1829–1845	Succeeded by William Samuel Best