Dictionary.net

An eminent British statesman, orator, and author; born in Edinburgh, Sept. 19, 1778; died at Cannes, France, May 7, 1868. He entered the University of Edinburgh in 1792. In 1802 he helped to found the Edinburgh Review, contributing to the first four numbers twenty-one articles, and to the first twenty numbers eighty articles. The article on Byron's "Hours of Idleness" provoked the poet to write his "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers". In 1810 Brougham entered Parliament; where his remarkable eloquence gave him at once a commanding place. He was counsel for Queen Caroline in George IV.'s suit against her (1820), winning a decisive victory which raised him to the height of fame and popularity. He became Lord Chancellor in 1830, and was at the same time created a baron; he resigned on the defeat of the Whigs in 1834, and never again held public office, though still taking effective part in the business and debates of the House of Lords. His later years were passed partly in England, and partly in the beautiful retreat he had fitted up at Cannes. He was the steadfast and powerful champion of revision and reform of the laws, popular education, the abolition of slavery, and the maintenance of peace. The famous Reform Bill of 1832 was carried during his chancellorship, and largely by his agency. His miscellaneous writings in their collected edition (11 vols., 1855-61) cover a vast number and variety of subjects. His best works are his "Sketches of the Statesmen of the Time of George III". and "Lives of Men of Letters and Science". An edition of his "Speeches", corrected by himself, was published in four volumes in 1838. His "Autobiography" was written in extreme old age, and is unreliable.