The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Thurlow, Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron
1731–1806, lord chancellor of England. Called to the bar in 1754, he enjoyed considerable success in legal practice. He was made a king’s counsel in 1762 and entered Parliament in 1765. He was appointed solicitor general (1770) and attorney general (1771). His support of the policies of George III and Lord North with respect to the American colonies brought him a peerage and the lord chancellorship (1778). He held the latter office until Charles James Fox insisted upon his dismissal in 1783. William Pitt reappointed him in 1783, and he retained office until 1792. Then his opposition to Pitt’s sinking fund and his intrigues against the ministry caused Pitt to demand his retirement. He had presided ably over the first part of the trial of Warren Hastings. Thurlow consistently opposed parliamentary reform, abolition of the slave trade, and other reforms. His manner inspired Charles James Fox’s remark, “No man ever was so wise as Thurlow looks.”
