Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 03.djvu/414

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Bathurst
408
Bathurst

relative to Trials at Nisi Prius,’ which bears the name of Justice Buller, is sometimes said to have been founded on the collections of the older lawyer. Bathurst's judgments whilst in the court of common pleas are in the reports of Serjeant G. Wilson; his decrees whilst presiding in chancery are preserved in the reports of Mr. John Dickens. By a universal consensus of opinion Earl Bathurst is pronounced to have been the least efficient lord chancellor of the last century, his successor, Lord Campbell, not shrinking from the statement that the building of Apsley House was ‘perhaps the most memorable act in the life of Lord Chancellor Bathurst;’ but it is recorded to his honour that his patronage was distributed fairly and judiciously, both in the law and the church. Among those upon whom he conferred office was Sir William Jones, who in return dedicated to Earl Bathurst his translation of the speeches of Isæus. As a politician he concurred in all the acts of the North ministry, and on Chatham's death was one of the four peers who signed the protest against the grant of an annuity to the successors of that title.

[Foss, viii. 239–43; Campbell's Chancellors, v. 436–72; Gent. Mag. (1794), lxiv. 771; Walpole's Letters, vi. 299; Correspondence of George III and Lord North, ii. 175; Wraxall, ii. 202–3; Stanhope's Hist. of England, v. 292, vi. 233.]

W. P. C.

BATHURST, HENRY (1762–1834), third Earl Bathurst, statesman, son of Henry Bathurst, second Earl Bathurst [q. v.], was born 22 May 1762. His mother was daughter of Thomas Scawen, Esq., of Manwell, in the county of Northampton. Bathurst married, April 1789, Georgina, daughter of Lord George Henry Lennox, and succeeded to the family honours on 6 Aug. 1794. He was a personal friend of Mr. Pitt, and on the formation of his second ministry in 1804 he accepted the mastership of the mint. This office be continued to hold under Mr. Addington, and, having held the seals of the Foreigh Office from October to December in 1809, subsequently became president of the board of trade under the Duke of Portland. In Lord Liverpool's ministry he occupied the responsible position of secretary for war and the colonies, and finished his political career under the Duke of Wellington, 1828–30, as lord president of the council. Though Lord Bathurst did not belong to that class of public men who leave their mark behind them, he was an able and useful minister, and for the improvement in the conduct of the Peninsular war which began contemporaneously with his acceptance of the secretaryship he must be allowed his share of credit. His correspondence with the Duke of Wellington, to be found in the ‘Wellington Despatches,’ is very interesting, and shows great quickness in apprehending the military questions brought before him, as well as promptitude in dealing with them. It likewise devolved upon Lord Bathurst to defend the policy of the government in their treatment of the first Napoleon, which was bitterly assailed by Lord Holland in the House of Lords in the year 1817. His speech on that occasion was clever and simple, but was thought by the friends of the ex-emperor to savour too much of pleasantry for so solemn a subject. His name of course will frequently be found in connection with the slave trade; and he was one of the tories who supported in principle the repeal of the Roman Catholic disabilities. In politics he was a tory of the old school, and ceased to take any active part in parliament after the passing of the Reform Bill. He spoke and voted against the second reading of that measure on the ground that it would not reform but destroy the constitution. He was through life, however, a man of what are called moderate views, and enjoyed the esteem and respect of his contemporaries of both political parties.

[Castlereagh's Correspondence; Wellington Despatches; Lord Colchester's Diary; Courts and Cabinets of George IV; Hansard's Parliamentary Debates.]

T. E. K.

BATHURST, HENRY (1744–1837), bishop of Norwich, seventh son of Benjamin, younger brother of Allen, first Earl Bathurst, was born at Brackley, Northamptonshire, on 16 Oct. 1744, and was educated at Winchester, and New College, Oxford. He became rector of Witchingham in Norfolk; in 1775 was made canon of Christ Church, Oxford: and in 1795 prebendary of Durham. In 1805, on the translation of Dr. Manners-Sutton to Canterbury, he was consecrated bishop of Norwich. Dr. Bathurst died in London, 1837, and was buried at Great Malvern. He was distinguished throughout his life for the liberality of his principles, and for many years was considered to be 'the only liberal bishop' in the House of Lords. He warmly supported Roman catholic emancipation, both by his speeches in the house, and by his presentation of a petition in favour of that movement from the Roman catholics of Tuam. In 1835, when over ninety years of age, he went to the house to vote in support of Lord Melbourne's government.