Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington
Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington (c.
1708 -
14 January 1772),
Lord Chancellor of
Great Britain, was the second son of Anthony Henley, a member of a well-to-do family in
Hampshire, who was a
Whig member of parliament, and a well-known wit and writer. Robert was educated at
Westminster School and St Johns College, Oxford; and after gaining a fellowship at
All Souls he was called to the bar in
1732. In
1747 he was elected member of parliament for
Bath, of which borough he became recorder in
1751. He acquired a lucrative practice at the bar, and in
1756 was appointed Attorney-General. In the following year he was promoted to the office of Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, being the last person so designated. For three years Henley, though still a commoner, presided over the
House of Lords in virtue of his office; but in
1760 he was created
Baron Henley of Grainge in the county of
Southampton. The delay in raising him to the peerage was due to the hostility of
George II, who resented Henley's former support of the
Prince of Wales's faction, known as the Leicester House party; and it was in order that he might preside as
Lord High Steward at the trial of Earl Ferrers for murder in
1760 that he then received his patent. On the accession of
George III the office of
Lord Chancellor was conferred on Henley, and in
1764 he was created
Viscount Henley and
Earl of Northington. In
1765 he presided at the trial of Lord Byron for killing William Chaworth in a duel. Northington, who was a member of the group known as the King's Friends, was instrumental in procuring the dismissal of the
Marquess of Rockingham and the recall of
Pitt to office in
1766, and he himself joined the government as
Lord President of the Council,
Lord Camden becoming chancellor. He resigned office in
1767, and died at his residence in Hampshire on
14 January 1772. He married, in
1743, Jane, daughter of Sir John Huband of Ipsley,
Warwickshire, by whom he had three sons and five daughters.