Page:A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices.djvu/40

 a movement of this benevolent nature in which he did not take a part. He was largely instrumental in the reduction of the salt, duties. The labour in connexion with all these activities affected his health, and he died at Leamington, where he had gone for the benefit of the waters, 1 July, 1818. He had succeeded his brother as baronet in 1810. In addition to his other works, Sir Thomas employed his pen on several pamphlets on the subjects he had at heart, and was the author of An Historical View of Christianity (1806).



Fourth son of Montague, second Earl of Lindsey, and Lord Chamberlain, to which high connexion he was probably indebted for his advancement. He was called to the Bar 10 June, 1659, became a Bencher of his Inn 23 Jan. 1673-4, a Serjeant-at-Law 1675, and in the same year a Baron of the Exchequer. Three years afterwards he was removed to the Common Pleas, where, however, he sat only for ten months, when he was removed from his office, for what reason does not clearly appear. He died 23 Feb. 1680, and was buried in the Temple Church.



Admitted 9 October, 1784.

Third son of Thomas Best, of Haselbury, Somerset, where he was born 13 Dec. 1767. He was educated at Oxford, and called to the Bar 6 Nov. 1789. He early acquired a large practice, and became a Serjeant-at-Law in 1800. In 1802 he entered Parliament as member for Petersfield, and was engaged in the impeachment of Lord Melville. He enjoyed the favour of the Prince of Wales, whose Attorney-General he was, and in 1818 he became a Judge of the King's Bench. Five years later he was advanced to the head of the Court of Common Pleas, but on account of bodily infirmities was obliged to retire in 1829, when, as a mark of royal favour, he was raised to the peerage, with the title of Baron Wynford. He died at his seat in Kent 3 March, 1845.



Admitted 14 April, 1819.

Eldest son of Richard Bethell, M.D., of Bradford, Wilts, where he was born 30 June, 1800. He early distinguished himself at the University of Oxford, where he graduated first class in Classics and second in Mathematics. He was called to the Bar 28 Nov. 1823, and in 1840 he became a Queen's Counsel. In 1844 he was Reader at the Inn and was elected Treasurer in 1848. Having entered Parliament as a supporter of the Liberal Government, he was made, first, Solicitor, and then Attorney-General, and on 26 June, 1861, succeeded to the office of Lord High Chancellor. This high office he resigned on 7 July, 1865. From that time to the date of his death, 20 July, 1873, in all law questions before the House of Lords, Lord Westbury took a leading part, and his decisions are of the highest authority. His inaugural and valedictory addresses before the Juridical Society, of which he was president, in 1855 and 1859, are printed in the Papers of that Society, but beyond these he left little or nothing in the way of legal literature, his fame depending entirely upon his well-remembered legal and other dicta.