| The Right Honourable The Earl of Selborne PC |
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|---|---|
| Lord Chancellor | |
| In office 15 October 1872 – 17 February 1874 |
|
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Preceded by | The Lord Hatherley |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Cairns |
| In office 28 April 1880 – 9 June 1885 |
|
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Preceded by | The Lord Cairns |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Halsbury |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 November 1812 Mixbury, Oxfordshire |
| Died | 4 May 1895 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative Liberal Liberal Unionist |
| Spouse(s) | Lady Laura Waldegrave (d. 1885) |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne PC (27 November 1812–4 May 1895), was a British lawyer and politician. He served twice as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.
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Selborne was born at Mixbury in Oxfordshire, where his father William Jocelyn Palmer was rector. His mother Dorothea was daughter of the Rev. William Roundell of Gledstone, Yorkshire; and William Palmer and Edwin Palmer were his brothers.[1] He was educated at Rugby School and Winchester College. He graduated in 1834 from Oxford after a brilliant career there, and received his master's degree in 1836. While at University he became a close friend of the hymn writer and theologian, Frederick William Faber. He soon became known for his keen and subtle mind and his vast learning. He was called to the bar in 1837.
Selborne entered parliament as a Conservative in 1847. He joined the Peelite Conservatives who were to eventually help create the Liberal party in 1859. He served under Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell as Solicitor General between 1861 and 1863 and as Attorney General between 1863 and 1866.
Under Gladstone, he became Lord Chancellor in 1872 and was created Baron Selborne, of Selborne in the County of Southampton. His first tenure in the office saw the passage of the Judicature Act of 1873, which completely reorganized the judiciary. He served in the same office in Gladstone's Second Cabinet (1880–1885), and was created Viscount Wolmer, of Blackmoor in the County of Southampton, and Earl of Selborne in 1882. He broke with Gladstone, however, over Irish Home Rule, in 1885, and joined the Liberal Unionists.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1860.[2]
L'Union St. Jacques de Montreal v. Bélisle (1874), 6 L.R. P.C. 31, [1874] UKPC 53 (P.C.).
Selborne married Lady Laura, daughter of William Waldegrave, 8th Earl Waldegrave, in 1848. Their son, William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne, later became a prominent Unionist politician. Lady Selborne died in April 1885. Lord Selborne survived her by ten years and died in May 1895, aged 82.
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