Mansfield, WILLIAM MURRAY, EARL OF

Mansfield, WILLIAM MURRAY, EARL OF, Lord-chief-justice of the King's Bench, was the fourth son of Andrew, Viscount Stormont, and was born at Perth, 2d March 1705. From Westminster he passed to Christ Church, Oxford, graduated M.A. in 1730, and was called to the bar the following year. He soon acquired an extensive practice—mainly, it would seem, on account of his facility and force as a speaker, for neither then nor at any subsequent period of his career was he reckoned a very erudite lawyer—and was often employed on appeal cases before the House of Lords. In 1743 he was appointed Solicitor-general, entered the House of Commons as member for Boroughbridge, and at once took a high position. In 1746 he acted, ex officio, as counsel against the rebel lords, Lovat, Balmerino, and Kilmarnock; was appointed Attorney-general in 1754; and at this time stood so high that, had not the keenness of his ambition been mitigated by a well-founded distrust of his fitness for leading the House, he might have aspired to the highest political honours. He became Chief-justice of the King's Bench in 1756, and, contrary to usage, also a member of the cabinet; and entered the House of Lords under the title of Baron Mansfield of Mansfield, in the county of Nottingham. Although he was impartial and tolerant as a judge, his opinions were not those of the popular side, and accordingly he was exposed to much abuse and party hatred. Junius bitterly attacked him, and during the Gordon riots of 1780 his house, with all his books and papers, was burned. The aged judge declined with much dignity to be indemnified by parliament. In 1776 Murray was made Earl of Mansfield. Age and ill-health forced him to resign the Chief-justiceship in 1788. He died, 20th March 1793, when the title devolved upon his nephew, Viscount Stormont.