Sir Roundell Palmer, later Lord Selborne

A carte-de-visite portrait of Roundell Palmer (1812-1895), created Baron Selborne in 1872 when he became Lord Chancellor, then created Earl of Selborne and Viscount Wolmer in 1882.

Born at Mixbury in Oxford, he was educated at Rugby and Winchester; after a brilliant career at Oxford he graduated in 1834 and received his master’s degree in 1836. He soon became known for his keen and subtle mind and his vast learning. In 1837 he was called to the Bar, and in 1847 he entered Parliament as a Conservative and joined the Peelite Conservatives, though he eventually helped create the Liberal party in 1859.

Palmer served Palmerston and Russell as Solicitor General from 1861 to 1863 and as Attorney General from 1863 to 1866. Under Gladstone, he became Lord Chancellor in 1872 and was created Baron Selborne. His first tenure in the office saw the passage of the Judicature Act of 1873, which completely reorganized the judiciary.

He served in the same office in Gladstone’s second Cabinet (1880-1885) but he broke with Gladstone over Irish Home Rule in 1885 and joined the Liberal Unionists.

Photographed by Samuel A. Walker of Margaret Street, London