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John Romilly, 1st Baron Romilly

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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IST Baron (1802-1874), English judge, was the second son of Sir Samuel Romilly, and was born on the 10th of January 1802. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1827. He first entered parliament in 1832 as member for Bridport, and in 1843 he became a queen's counsel. He was elected M.P. for Devonport in 1847, and was appointed solicitor-general in 1848 in Lord John Russell's administration and attorney-general in 1850. In 1851 he was appointed master of the rolls, and continued to sit for Devonport till the general election in 1852, when he was defeated. He was the last master of the rolls to sit in parliament. Romilly was raised to the peerage as Baron Romilly of Barry in 1866, and retired from the mastership of the rolls in 1873. He did much to remove the restrictions which had long hampered research among the public records and state papers. Lord Romilly died in London on the 23rd of December 1874.