James Hope-Scott
Encyclopedia
James Robert Hope-Scott (15 July 1812 – 29 April 1873) was a British barrister
and Tractarian.
, in the county of Buckinghamshire
, and christened
James Robert Hope, he was the third son of Sir Alexander Hope, and grandson of John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun
. After a childhood spent at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
, of which his father was governor (now called "commandant"), he was educated at Eton College
and Christ Church, Oxford
, where he was a contemporary and friend of William Ewart Gladstone
and John Henry Newman. In 1838 he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn
. Between 1840 and 1843 he helped to found Trinity College, Glenalmond
. In 1840-41 he spent some eight months in Italy
, Rome
included, in company with his close friend Edward Louth Badeley.
On his return he became, with Newman, one of the foremost promoters of the Tractarian movement at Oxford
and entirely in Newman's confidence. In 1841, he published an attack on the Anglican-German Bishopric in Jerusalem
, and further defended the "value of the science of canon law
, in a pamphlet. Edward Bouverie Pusey
also valued Hope's advice and canvassed him in 1842 before publishing the Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury on some Circumstances connected with the Present Crisis in the Church. Hope supported publication.
Along with other Anglo-Catholics, Hope was disturbed by the Gorham judgment and, on 12 March 1850, a meeting was held at his house in Curzon Street
, London
which was attended by fourteen leading Tractarians including: Badeley, Henry Edward Manning and Archdeacon
Robert Isaac Wilberforce
. They eventually published a series of resolutions which started the process of distancing Hope, Badeley, Manning and Wilberforce from the Anglican Church.
In 1851 Hope was received with Manning into the Roman Catholic Church
.
Ormsby believed that Hope found some distraction from his frustration with the Anglican Church through his secular work.
By 1839, Hope was becoming involved in parliamentary work. He was retained as counsel for the British government on the Foreign Marriages Bill and in 1843, the report on the Consular Jurisdiction Bill. His brother's appointment as Under Secretary of State for the Colonies in Sir Robert Peel
's administration may have opened some doors. In 1843-44 he was engaged again by the government in the matter of the aftermath of the Pastry War
, whose settlement Britain had arbitrated
, to prepare a report on some points in dispute between France
and Mexico
.
As an established ecclesiastical lawyer, he was much involved in the Ecclesiastical Courts Bill in 1843 and the same year he took the DCL
degree at Oxford. In 1844 an English Criminal Code
was under serious consideration and Bishop of London
Charles James Blomfield
recommended Hope to the Lord Chancellor
John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst
as a commissioner to consider offences
against religion and the Church. By the end of 1845 he stood at the head of the parliamentary bar but his objections to taking the Oath of Supremacy
deterred him from accepting the professional honour of Queen's Counsel
. In 1849, he therefore asked Lord Chancellor
Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham
for, and was granted, a patent of precedence
conferring equal status.
In 1852 he gave Newman the disastrously misleading legal advice that he was unlikely to be sued for libel by Giacinto Achilli
, advice that led to Newman's criminal conviction for defamatory libel
. Thereafter, Newman relied on Badeley for legal advice though in 1855 Hope-Scott conducted the negotiations which ended in Newman's accepting the rector
ship of the Catholic University of Ireland
.
and granddaughter of Sir Walter Scott
, and, on her coming into possession of Abbotsford House
six years later, he assumed the surname of Hope-Scott. After her death on 26 October 1858 he married as his second wife in 1861, Lady Victoria Fitzalan-Howard, daughter of the 14th Duke of Norfolk
. He retired from the bar in 1870 and spent the rest of his life in charitable and literary work, in particular an abridgment of his father in law's seven volume biography of Scott with a preface dedicated to Gladstone. He maintained a life-long correspondence with Badeley.
Both his wives died in childbirth. He left an only daughter by his first marriage, Mary Monica (born 2 October 1852), later wife of Joseph Constable Maxwell, third son of William, Lord Herries
. Two other children of this marriage died in infancy. By his second marriage he left a son, James Fitzalan Hope-Scott
(1870–1949), and three daughters. Two other children died young.
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
and Tractarian.
Early life and conversion
Born at Great MarlowGreat Marlow
Great Marlow is a civil parish within Wycombe district in the English county of Buckinghamshire located north of the town of Marlow and south of High Wycombe. The parish includes the hamlets of Bovingdon Green, Burroughs Grove, Chisbridge Cross and Marlow Common, and Danesfield Base, a housing...
, in the county of Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, and christened
Infant baptism
Infant baptism is the practice of baptising infants or young children. In theological discussions, the practice is sometimes referred to as paedobaptism or pedobaptism from the Greek pais meaning "child." The practice is sometimes contrasted with what is called "believer's baptism", or...
James Robert Hope, he was the third son of Sir Alexander Hope, and grandson of John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun
John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun
John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun was the son of Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun and Lady Henrietta Johnstone....
. After a childhood spent at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...
, of which his father was governor (now called "commandant"), he was educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, where he was a contemporary and friend of William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
and John Henry Newman. In 1838 he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
. Between 1840 and 1843 he helped to found Trinity College, Glenalmond
Glenalmond
Glenalmond or Glen Almond is a glen which stretches for several miles to the west of the city of Perth in Perth and Kinross, Scotland and down which the River Almond flows. The upper half of the glen runs through mountainous country and is virtually uninhabited whilst the lower, easterly section...
. In 1840-41 he spent some eight months in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
included, in company with his close friend Edward Louth Badeley.
On his return he became, with Newman, one of the foremost promoters of the Tractarian movement at Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and entirely in Newman's confidence. In 1841, he published an attack on the Anglican-German Bishopric in Jerusalem
Anglican-German Bishopric in Jerusalem
The Anglican-German Bishopric in Jerusalem was an episcopal see founded in Jerusalem in the nineteenth century by joint agreement of the Anglican Church of England and the united Evangelical Church in Prussia.-Background:...
, and further defended the "value of the science of canon law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
, in a pamphlet. Edward Bouverie Pusey
Edward Bouverie Pusey
Edward Bouverie Pusey was an English churchman and Regius Professor of Hebrew at Christ Church, Oxford. He was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement.-Early years:...
also valued Hope's advice and canvassed him in 1842 before publishing the Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury on some Circumstances connected with the Present Crisis in the Church. Hope supported publication.
Along with other Anglo-Catholics, Hope was disturbed by the Gorham judgment and, on 12 March 1850, a meeting was held at his house in Curzon Street
Curzon Street
Curzon Street is located within the exclusive Mayfair district of London. The street is located entirely within the W1J postcode district and is 400 yards to the north west of Green Park tube station...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
which was attended by fourteen leading Tractarians including: Badeley, Henry Edward Manning and Archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
Robert Isaac Wilberforce
Robert Isaac Wilberforce
Robert Isaac Wilberforce was an English clergyman and writer, second son of abolitionist William Wilberforce, and active in the Oxford Movement.-Early life and education:...
. They eventually published a series of resolutions which started the process of distancing Hope, Badeley, Manning and Wilberforce from the Anglican Church.
In 1851 Hope was received with Manning into the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
.
Legal practice
On 15 June 1841, Hope wrote to Gladstone:Ormsby believed that Hope found some distraction from his frustration with the Anglican Church through his secular work.
By 1839, Hope was becoming involved in parliamentary work. He was retained as counsel for the British government on the Foreign Marriages Bill and in 1843, the report on the Consular Jurisdiction Bill. His brother's appointment as Under Secretary of State for the Colonies in Sir Robert Peel
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846...
's administration may have opened some doors. In 1843-44 he was engaged again by the government in the matter of the aftermath of the Pastry War
Pastry War
The Pastry War was an invasion of Mexico by French forces in 1838.-Background:The war arose from the widespread civil disorder that plagued the early years of the Mexican republic. In 1828, President Manuel Gómez Pedraza ejected Lorenzo de Zavala from the office of governor of the state of México...
, whose settlement Britain had arbitrated
Arbitration
Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
, to prepare a report on some points in dispute between France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
As an established ecclesiastical lawyer, he was much involved in the Ecclesiastical Courts Bill in 1843 and the same year he took the DCL
Doctor of Civil Law
Doctor of Civil Law is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws degrees....
degree at Oxford. In 1844 an English Criminal Code
English Criminal Code
The jurisdiction of England and Wales does not have a Criminal Code though such an instrument has been often recommended and attempted. , the Law Commission is again working on the Code.-History:...
was under serious consideration and Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
Charles James Blomfield
Charles James Blomfield
Charles James Blomfield was a British divine, and a Church of England bishop for 32 years.-Early life:Blomfield was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk and educated at the local grammar school and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won the Browne medals for Latin and Greek odes, and the Craven...
recommended Hope to the 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...
John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst
John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst
John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst PC KS FRS , was a British lawyer and politician. He was three times Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.-Background and education:...
as a commissioner to consider offences
against religion and the Church. By the end of 1845 he stood at the head of the parliamentary bar but his objections to taking the Oath of Supremacy
Oath of Supremacy
The Oath of Supremacy, originally imposed by King Henry VIII of England through the Act of Supremacy 1534, but repealed by his daughter, Queen Mary I of England and reinstated under Mary's sister, Queen Elizabeth I of England under the Act of Supremacy 1559, provided for any person taking public or...
deterred him from accepting the professional honour of Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
. In 1849, he therefore asked 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...
Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham
Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham
Charles Christopher Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham PC KC was a British lawyer, judge and politician. He was twice Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.-Background and education:...
for, and was granted, a patent of precedence
Patent of precedence
A patent of precedence is a grant to an individual by letters patent of a higher social or professional position than the precedence to which his ordinary rank entitles him.-Historical user in the English legal profession:...
conferring equal status.
In 1852 he gave Newman the disastrously misleading legal advice that he was unlikely to be sued for libel by Giacinto Achilli
Giacinto Achilli
Giovanni Giacinto Achilli was an Italian Roman Catholic who was discharged from the priesthood for sexual misconduct and subsequently became a fervent advocate of the Protestant evangelical cause...
, advice that led to Newman's criminal conviction for defamatory libel
Defamatory libel
Defamatory libel was originally an offence under the common law of England. It has been abolished in England and Wales and Northern Ireland. It was or is a form of criminal libel, a term with which it is synonymous.-England and Wales and Northern Ireland:...
. Thereafter, Newman relied on Badeley for legal advice though in 1855 Hope-Scott conducted the negotiations which ended in Newman's accepting the rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
ship of the Catholic University of Ireland
Catholic University of Ireland
The Catholic University of Ireland was a Catholic university in Dublin, Ireland and was founded in 1851 following the Synod of Thurles in 1850, and in response to the Queen's University of Ireland and its associated colleges which were nondenominational...
.
Personal and family life
In 1847 he married Charlotte Harriet Jane Lockhart, daughter of John Gibson LockhartJohn Gibson Lockhart
John Gibson Lockhart , was a Scottish writer and editor. He is best known as the author of the definitive "Life" of Sir Walter Scott...
and granddaughter of Sir Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
, and, on her coming into possession of Abbotsford House
Abbotsford House
Abbotsford is a historic house in the region of the Scottish Borders in the south of Scotland, near Melrose, on the south bank of the River Tweed. It was formerly the residence of historical novelist and poet, Walter Scott...
six years later, he assumed the surname of Hope-Scott. After her death on 26 October 1858 he married as his second wife in 1861, Lady Victoria Fitzalan-Howard, daughter of the 14th Duke of Norfolk
Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk
Henry Granville Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal, Chief Butler of England was the son of Henry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk and Lady Charlotte Sophia Leveson-Gower...
. He retired from the bar in 1870 and spent the rest of his life in charitable and literary work, in particular an abridgment of his father in law's seven volume biography of Scott with a preface dedicated to Gladstone. He maintained a life-long correspondence with Badeley.
Both his wives died in childbirth. He left an only daughter by his first marriage, Mary Monica (born 2 October 1852), later wife of Joseph Constable Maxwell, third son of William, Lord Herries
Lord Herries of Terregles
Lord Herries of Terregles is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1490 for Herbert Herries. On the death of his grandson, the third Lord, the male line failed. He was succeeded by his daughter Agnes. She married Sir John Maxwell, second son of Robert Maxwell, 5th Lord Maxwell...
. Two other children of this marriage died in infancy. By his second marriage he left a son, James Fitzalan Hope-Scott
James Fitzalan Hope, 1st Baron Rankeillour
James Fitzalan Hope, 1st Baron Rankeillour PC , was a British Conservative politician. He served as Chairman of Ways and Means from 1921 to 1924 and again from 1924 to 1929.-Background and education:...
(1870–1949), and three daughters. Two other children died young.