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Sir Alexander James Edmund Cockburn, 12th Baronet, QC (24 September 1802 – 28 November 1880〔National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1858-1966: The Right Honourable Sir Alexander James Edmund Cockburn Bart. GCB ... who died 28 November 1880 at 40 Hertford Street ... Probate 18 December 1880 ...〕) was a Scottish jurist and politician who served as the Lord Chief Justice for 21 years. A notorious womaniser and socialite, he heard some of the leading ''causes célèbres'' of the nineteenth century. In 1847 he decided to stand for parliament, and was elected unopposed as Liberal Member of Parliament for Southampton. His speech in the House of Commons on behalf of the government in the Don Pacifico dispute with Greece commended him to Lord John Russell, who appointed him Solicitor-General in 1850 and Attorney General in 1851, a post which he held till the resignation of the ministry in February 1852.〔 ==Life== Cockburn was born in Alţâna, in what is now Romania and was then part of Habsburg Monarchy,〔1851 Census for England – Barrister, aged 47, of Wakehurst Place, Ardingly, Sussex, with the mother (Louisa Hannah Godfrey née Dalley) and sister (Caroline Louisa Matilda Godfrey) of his (ex-?)partner Louisa Ann Elizabeth Dalley Godfrey – HO107/1642 f.115. p.18〕〔1861 Census for England – Lord Chief Justice, aged 58, visiting Chute Lodge, Wiltshire born Altana, with children: Louisa C. Cockburn aged 22 born Stratford, Essex; Alexander Cockburn aged 15 born Sydenham, Surrey – RG9/716 f.19 p.3〕 to Alexander Cockburn and his wife Yolande, daughter of the Vicomte de Vignier.〔 His father served as British envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Württemberg and the Colombia District (now Colombia) and was the fourth son of Sir James Cockburn, 8th Baronet (born c.1729, died July 1804), his three older uncles having died without heirs. He was initially educated largely abroad and became fluent in French and familiar with German, Italian and Spanish. He was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, gaining a first in Civil law in 1824–5 and graduating in 1829 with an LL.B. degree, and also being elected a fellow, and afterwards an honorary fellow. He entered the Middle Temple in 1825, and was called to the bar in 1829. He joined the western circuit and built up a substantial practice though he was sufficiently diffident about his success in London to devote little of his energies there, not even keeping his Chambers open.〔 Three years after his call, the Reform Bill was passed. Cockburn started to practise in election law, including acting for Henry Lytton Bulwer and Edward Ellice. In 1833, with William Rowe, he published a parliamentary brief on the decisions of election committees. In 1834, Ellice recommended Cockburn as member of the commission to enquire into the state of the corporations of England and Wales. Through his parliamentary work Cockburn met Joseph Parkes and himself became interested in politics as a profession in itself, not simply as a pretext for legal argument. Cockburn had become ambitious and in 1838 he turned down the offer of a judicial appointment in India with the sentiment "I am going in for something better than that". He became Recorder of Southampton and from that point started to reduce his election and parliamentary work in favour of more publicly notorious cases. In 1841 he was made a Q.C.〔 In December 1852, under Lord Aberdeen's ministry, Cockburn again became Attorney General, and remained so until 1856, taking part in many celebrated trials.〔 In 1854 Cockburn was made Recorder of Bristol. In 1856, he became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. He inherited the baronetcy in 1858. In 1859, Lord Campbell became Lord Chancellor, and Cockburn became Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench. Several Prime Ministers offered to nominate Cockburn for a peerage, and he finally accepted the offer in 1864. However, Queen Victoria refused, noting that "this peerage has been more than once previously refused upon the ground of the notoriously bad moral character of the Chief Justice".〔"Letters of Queen Victoria" 1.257, ed. G. E. Buckle; cited in the Dictionary of National Biography〕 In 1875, the post of Chief Justice was replaced by Lord Chief Justice, a position he held until his death〔 on 28 November 1880. He died of angina pectoris at his house in 40 Hertford Street, Mayfair, London; he had continued working up until his death despite three heart attacks and warnings from his doctor.〔 As he never married, he produced no legitimate heirs despite having a surviving child. As a result, the baronetcy became dormant upon his death.〔 His remains were deposited in Catacomb A of Kensal Green Cemetery. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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