Robert Gifford, 1st Baron Gifford

Summary

Robert Gifford, 1st Baron Gifford, PC (24 February 1779 – 4 September 1826), was a British lawyer, judge and politician.

The 1st Lord Gifford. Engraving by Thomas Wright after Abraham Wivell's painting.

Gifford was born in Exeter, and entered the Middle Temple in 1800. He was called to the bar in 1808, and joined the Western Circuit.

Gifford was elected to the House of Commons for Eye in 1817, a seat he represented until 1824, and served under the Earl of Liverpool as Solicitor General between 1817 and 1819 and as Attorney General between 1819 and 1824. The latter year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Gifford, of St Leonard's in the County of Devon,[1] and appointed Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Lord Gifford only held this post for a short time and was then Master of the Rolls from 1824 until his early death in September 1826, aged 47. He was succeeded in the barony by his son Robert.

Coat of arms edit

Coat of arms of Robert Gifford, 1st Baron Gifford
 
Notes
Coat of arms of the Gifford family
Coronet
A coronet of a Baron
Crest
A Panther's Head couped at the neck and affrontée between two Branches of Oak proper
Escutcheon
Azure a Chevron between three Stirrups with Leathers Or within a Bordure engrailed Argent pellety
Supporters
Dexter: a Bay Horse proper charged on the shoulder with a Portcullis Or; Sinister: a Greyhound Argent charged on the body with three Ermine Spots
Motto
Non Sine Numine (Not without God's assistance)

References edit

  1. ^ "No. 17997". The London Gazette. 31 January 1824. p. 170.
  • Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
  • Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages [self-published source] [better source needed]

External links edit

  • Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Robert Gifford
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Eye
1817–1824
With: Mark Singleton 1817–1820
Sir Miles Nightingall 1820–1824
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Solicitor General
1817–1819
Succeeded by
Preceded by Attorney General
1819–1824
Succeeded by
Legal offices
Preceded by Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
1824
Succeeded by
Preceded by Master of the Rolls
1824–1826
Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Gifford
1824–1826
Succeeded by