Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron Thurlow
Overview
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
, KC (9 December 1731 – 12 September 1806) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
lawyer and Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
politician. He served as Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
for fourteen years and under four Prime Ministers.
Born at Bracon Ash, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, Thurlow was the eldest son of Reverend Thomas Thurlow. Thomas Thurlow
Thomas Thurlow (bishop)
-Life:He graduated M.A. from Magdalen College, Oxford in 1761. He became Dean of St Paul's in 1782, and was Bishop of Durham from 1787.-Family:He was brother of Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron Thurlow, who was Lord Chancellor from 1778 to 1792.-Notes:...
, Bishop of Durham, was his brother. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury and at Caius College, Cambridge.
Quotations
The accident of an accident.
Speech in Reply to the Duke of Grafton. Recounted in Butler's Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 142.
When I forget my sovereign, may my God forget me.
27 Parliamentary History, 680; Annual Register, 1789. Wilkes is reported to have replied, somewhat coarsely, but not unhappily it must be allowed, "Forget you! He ’ll see you damned first". Edmund Burke also exclaimed, "The best thing that could happen to you!" —Henry Peter, Lord Brougham, Statesmen of the Time of George III (Thurlow).