Peter Erle PC QC (1795 – 29 January 1877) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

.

Life

Erle was the fourth son of the Reverend Christopher Erle of Gillingham, Dorset

Gillingham, Dorset

Gillingham is a town in the Blackmore Vale area of Dorset, England. The town is the most northerly in the county. It is 3 miles south of the A303 lying on the B3092 and B3081. It is near to the town of Shaftesbury which lies 7 miles to the south east. Neighbouring hamlets included Peacemarsh, Bay...

, and brother of Sir William Erle

William Erle

Sir William Erle PC QC FRS was an English lawyer, judge and Whig politician.-Early career:Born at Fifehead Magdalen, Dorset, William was the son of the Rev. Christopher Erle of Gillingham, Dorset and Margaret née Bowles, a relative of the poet William Lisle Bowles. His younger brother Peter Erle...

. He was educated at New College, Oxford

New College, Oxford

New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...

, where he graduated in 1816. Having been called to the Bar by the Middle Temple

Middle Temple

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

 in Trinity Term

Trinity term

Trinity term is the name of the third and final term of Oxford University's and the University of Dublin's academic year. It runs from about mid April to about the end of June and is named after Trinity Sunday, which falls eight weeks after Easter, in May or June.At the University of Sydney, it was...

, 1821, he became a 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 1854, and was for some time one of the Charity Commission

Charity Commission

The Charity Commission for England and Wales is the non-ministerial government department that regulates registered charities in England and Wales....

ers. He was elected Treasurer of the Middle Temple in 1863. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1872.