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Thomas Wilde Truro

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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TRURO, THOMAS WILDE, 1ST B aron (1782-1855), lord

chancellor of England, was born in London on the 7th of July

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1782, being the second son of Thomas Wilde, an attorney.

He was educated at St Paul's School and was admitted an attorney in 1805. He subsequently entered the Inner Temple and was called to the bar in 1817, having practised for two years before as a special pleader. Retained for the defence of Queen Caroline in 1820 he distinguished himself by his crossexamination and laid the foundation of an extensive common law practice. He first entered parliament in the Whig interest as member for Newark (1831-1832-1832 and 1835-1841), afterwards representing Worcester (1841-1846). He was appointed solicitorgeneral in 1839, and became attorney-general in succession to Sir John (afterwards Baron) Campbell in 1841. In 1846 he was appointed chief justice of the common pleas, an office he held until 1850, when he became lord chancellor, and was created Baron Truro of Bowes, Middlesex. He held this latter office until the fall of the ministry in 1852. He died in London on the 11th of November 1855. His son Charles (1816-1891)1891) succeeded as 2nd baron, but on the death of his nephew the 3rd baron in 1899 the title became extinct.

Lord Truro was the uncle of James Plaisted Wilde, Baron Penzance (1816-1899), who was appointed a baron of the court of exchequer in 1860, and was judge of the court of probate and divorce from 1863 to 1872. In 1875 he was appointed dean of the court of arches, retiring in 1899. He was created a peer in 1869, but died without issue, and the title became extinct.