Selborne

Selborne, ROUNDELL PALMER, EARL OF (b. 1812), lawyer, was born in Oxfordshire, and, after taking his degree at Oxford, was called to the bar in 1837. He soon acquired a practice, and in 1847 entered Parliament as Liberal M.P. for Plymouth, which seat he held till 1857. In 1861 he was appointed Solicitor-General and in 1863 Attorney-General. He was strongly opposed to the disendowment of the Irish Church, and both wrote and spoke forcibly against it. He became Lord Chancellor in 1872, and again in 1880. He received an earldom in 1882, and became a Liberal Unionist in 1886. He published several works on Church history and ceremonial. He died in 1895.