(1751-1838), a lord high chancellor of England, one of the most famous of English jurists, born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, June 4, 1751. He was educated at Oxford, where he gained high honors. He was admitted to the bar in 1776 and soon rose in his profession, becoming member of Parliament in 1783. There he gained influence by his intellectual and moral force and was knighted in 1788 and made solicitor-general. Eleven years later he became chief justice of the court of common pleas and was made a peer, with the title of Baron of Eldon. In 1801 he was appointed lord chancellor of England, an office which he held until 1827, with one brief intermission. During that period he possessed immense influence with the ministry and monarchs. He resigned in 1827 and retired to private life. He is recognized as one of the greatest of common law judges.