Robert Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth

The Right Honourable The Lord Cranworth PC
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
In office 28 December 1852 – 21 February 1858
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Earl of Aberdeen The Viscount Palmerston
Preceded by	The Lord St Leonards
Succeeded by	The Lord Chelmsford
In office 7 July 1865 – 26 June 1866
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Viscount Palmerston The Earl Russell
Preceded by	The Lord Westbury
Succeeded by	The Lord Chelmsford
Personal details
Born	(1790-12-18)18 December 1790 Cranworth, Norfolk
Died	26 July 1868(1868-07-26) (aged 77) Holwood House Keston, Kent United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Robert Monsey Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth PC (18 December 1790 – 26 July 1868) was a British lawyer and Liberal politician. He twice served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.

Background and education

Born at Cranworth, Norfolk, he was the elder son of the Reverend Edmund Rolfe and Jemima Alexander, James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon's niece and a granddaughter of physician Messenger Monsey.^{[note 1]} Rolfe was related to Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson,^[2] he was educated at Bury St Edmunds, Winchester, Trinity College, Cambridge, Downing College, Cambridge (of which he was elected fellow) ^[3] and was called to the bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1816.^[4]

Legal and political career

Cranworth represented Penryn and Falmouth in Parliament from 1832 until he was appointed a Baron of the Exchequer in 1839. In 1850 he was appointed a Vice-Chancellor and raised to the peerage as Baron Cranworth, of Cranworth in the County of Norfolk. In 1852 Lord Cranworth became Lord Chancellor in Lord Aberdeen's coalition ministry. He continued to hold the chancellorship also in the administration of Lord Palmerston until the latter's resignation in 1858. Cranworth was not reappointed when Palmerston returned to office in 1859, but on the retirement of Lord Westbury in 1865 he accepted the office for a second time, and held it till the fall of the Russell administration in 1866.

Personal life

In 1850, Cranworth married Laura Carr (1807–1868), daughter of Thomas William Carr (born 1770). The couple had no children.

Lord Cranworth died at his seat, Holwood House, on 26 July 1868, aged 77, after a short illness related to the heat.^[5] He was childless and the title became extinct on his death.

Cases

• Fouldes v. Willoughby (1841)
• Jones v Lock (1865)
• Rylands v. Fletcher judgment given 9 days before his death.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cranworth, Robert Monsey Rolfe". Encyclopædia Britannica. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 379. 
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

Notes

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Robert Rolfe
• Portraits of Robert Monsey Rolfe, Baron Cranworth at the National Portrait Gallery, London
  

Lord Chancellors of Great Britain
Cowper in commission Harcourt Cowper Macclesfield in commission King Talbot Hardwicke in commission Northington Pratt Yorke in commission Bathurst Thurlow in commission Thurlow in commission Loughborough Eldon Erskine Eldon Lyndhurst Brougham Lyndhurst in commission Cottenham Lyndhurst Cottenham in commission Truro St Leonards Cranworth Chelmsford Campbell Westbury Cranworth Chelmsford Cairns Hatherley Selborne Cairns Selborne Halsbury Herschell Halsbury Herschell Halsbury Loreburn Haldane Buckmaster Finlay Birkenhead Cave Haldane Cave D. Hailsham Sankey D. Hailsham Maugham Caldecote Simon Jowitt Simonds Kilmuir Dilhorne Gardiner Q. Hailsham Elwyn-Jones Q. Hailsham Havers Mackay Irvine Falconer Straw Clarke Grayling Gove Truss Lidington
List of Lord Chancellors and Lord Keepers