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1ST See also: lord chancellor of See also: England, was the son of See also: Sir See also: William Cowper,
See also: Bart., of Ratling See also: Court, Kent, a Whig member of parliament of some mark in the two last See also: Stuart reigns
.
Educated at St Albans school, Cowper was called to the See also: bar in 1688; having promptly given his allegiance to the See also: prince of Orange on his landing in England, he was made See also: recorder of Colchester in 1694, and in 1695 entered parliament as member for Hertford
.
He
enjoyed a large practice at the bar, and had the reputation of being one of the most effective See also: parliamentary orators of his generation
.
He lost his seat in parliament in 1702 owing to the unpopularity caused by the trial of his See also: brother See also: Spencer on a See also: charge of See also: murder
.
In 1705 he was appointed lord keeper of the See also: great See also: seal, and took his seat on the woolsaskwithout apeerage
.
In the following See also: year he conducted the negotiations between the See also: English and Scottish commissioners for arranging the union with Scotland
.
In See also: November of the same year (1706) he succeeded to his See also: father's baronetcy; and on the 14th of See also: December he was raised to the See also: peerage as Baron Cowper of Wingham, Kent
.
When the union with Scotland came into operation in May 1707 the See also: queen in council named Cowper lord high chancellor of Great Britain, he being the first to hold this office
.
He presided at the trial of Dr Sacheverell in 1710, but resigned the seal when Harley and Bolingbroke took office in the same year
.
On the See also: death of Queen See also: Anne, See also: George I. appointed Cowper one of the lords justices for governing the country during the See also: king's
See also: absence, and a few See also: weeks later he again became lord chancellor
.
A paper which he See also: drew up for the guidance of the new king on constitutional matters, entitled An Impartial See also: History of Parties, marks the advance of English opinion towards party See also: government in the See also: modern sense
.
It was published by Lord See also: Campbell in his Lives of the Lord Chancellors
.
Cowper supported the impeachment of LordSee also: Oxford for high treason in 1715, and in 1716 presided as lord high steward at the trials of the peers charged with complicity in the Jacobite rising, his sentences on whom have been censured as unnecessarily severe
.
He warmly sup-ported the septennial See also: bill in the same year
.
On the 18th of See also: March 1718 he was created Viscount Fordwich and
See also: Earl Cowper, and a See also: month later he resigned office on the plea of See also: ill-See also: health, but probably in reality because George I. accused him of espousing the prince of See also: Wales's See also: side in his See also: quarrel with the king
.
Taking the See also: lead against his former colleagues, Cowper opposed the proposal brought forward in 1719 to limit the number of peers, and also the bill of pains and penalties against See also: Atterbury in 1723
.
In his last years he was accused, but probably without reason, of active sympathy with the See also: Jacobites
.
He died at his residence, See also: Colne See also: Green, built by himself on the site of the See also: present mansion of Panshanger on the loth of See also: October 1723
.
Cowper was not a great lawyer, but Burnet says that "'be managed the court of See also: chancery with impartial See also: justice and great despatch "; the most eminent of his contemporaries agreed in extolling his oratory and his virtues
.
He was twice married—first, about 1686, to See also: Judith, daughter and heiress of Sir Robert See also: Booth, a See also: London See also: merchant; and secondly, in 1706, to Mary, daughter of See also: John Clavering, of Chopwell, Durham
.
See also: Swift (Examiner, xvii., xxii.) alludes to an allegation that Cowper had been guilty of bigamy, a See also: slander for which there appears to have been no solid foundation
.
His younger brother, Spencer Cowper (1669-1728), was tried for the murder of Sarah Stout in 1699, but was acquitted; the lady, who had fallen in love with Cowper, having in fact committed suicide on account of his inattention
.
He was one of the managers of the impeachment of Sacheverell; was attorney-general to the prince of Wales (1714), chief justice of See also: Chester (1717), and See also: judge of the See also: common pleas (1727)
.
He was grandfather of William Cowper, the poet
.
The 1st earl See also: left two sons and two daughters by his second wife
.
The eldest son, William (1709–1764), who succeeded to the title, assumed the name of Clavering in addition to that of Cowper on the death of his maternal See also: uncle
.
His wife was a daughter of the earl of See also: Grantham, and See also: grand-daughter of the earl of Ossory
.
The son of this See also: marriage, George See also: Nassau, 3rd Earl Cowper (1738–1789), inherited the estates of the earl of Grantham; and in 1778 he was created by the emperor See also: Joseph II. a prince of the See also: Holy See also: Roman See also: Empire
.
The 5th earl (1778-1837) married a daughter of Lord Melbourne, the See also: prime See also: minister, by whom he had two sons; and his widow married as her second See also: husband Lord Palmerston, who devised his See also: property of Broad-lands to her second son, William See also: Francis Cowper-See also: Temple (1811–,888), who was created Baron See also: Mount Temple in 1880
.
The elder son, George See also: Augustus See also: Frederick (18o6–1856), 6th Earl
Cowper, married Anne Florence, daughter of See also: Thomas
See also: Philip, earl de
See also: Grey; and this lady at her father's death became suo jure baroness Lucas of Cradwell
.
Francis Thomas de Grey, 7th Earl Cowper (1834–1905), in addition to the other See also: family titles, became in 1871 loth Baron See also: Dingwall in the peerage of Scotland, and 8th Baron See also: Butler of
See also: Moore See also: Park in the peerage of See also: Ireland as heir-general of Thomas, earl of Ossory, son of the 1st duke of See also: Ormonde; the attainder of 1715 affecting those titles having been reversed in See also: July 1871
.
On the death of his See also: mother he also inherited the See also: barony of Lucas of Cradwell
.
On the death without issue in 1905 of the 7th earl, who was lord See also: lieutenant of Ireland 188o-1882, the earldom and barony of Cowper, together with the viscountcy of Fordwich, became See also: extinct; the barony of Butler See also: fell into See also: abeyance among his sisters and their heirs, and the baronies of Lucas and Dingwall devolved on his See also: nephew, Auberon Thomas See also: Herbert (b
.
1876)
.
See Private See also: Diary of Earl Cowper, edited by E
.
C
.
Hawtrey for the See also: Roxburghe See also: Club (See also: Eton, 1833) ; The Diary of Mary, Countess Cowper, edited by the Hon
.
Spencer Cowper (London, 1864) ; Lord See also: Camp-See also: bell, Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal (8 vols., London, 1845–1869) ; See also: Edward See also: Foss, The See also: Judges of England (9 vols., London, 1848–1864); See also: Gilbert Burnet, History of his Own
See also: Time (6 vols., Oxford, 1833) ; T
.
B
.
See also: Howell, See also: State Trials, vol. xii.-xv
.
(33 vols., London, 1809–1828); G
.
E
.
C., See also: Complete Peerage (London, 1889)
.
(R
.
J
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