page_title: Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine
section_title: Lord Chancellor
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine / Lord Chancellor
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine, Lord Chancellor
context_page_description: Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine, KT, PC, KC was a British lawyer and politician. He served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain between 1806 and 1807 in the Ministry of All the Talents.
context_section_description: In 1806 Erskine was offered the Lord Chancellorship in the Ministry of All the Talents formed by Lord Grenville and Charles Fox on the death of William Pitt. Fox's original plan had been to offer Erskine the chief judgeship of the Common Pleas or the King's Bench when one of the holders was elevated to Lord Chancellor. But both Lord Ellenborough, chief justice of the King's Bench and Sir James Mansfield, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, declined the chancellorship. Erskine was therefore appointed although he had no experience in Chancery. He was created a peer on 10 February 1806 to become Lord Chancellor. The Prince of Wales, who had inherited the Duchy of Cornwall, chose Erskine's title, Baron Erskine, of Restormel Castle in the County of Cornwall, while the motto, "trial by jury" was Erskine's own. Frances Erskine did not live to enjoy the title of Lady Erskine; she died a few weeks before her husband took the seals of office.
  Although Erskine lacked experience in equity, only one of the judgements he made during his brief tenure as Lord Chancellor was appealed against and that, concerning Peter Thellusson's will, was upheld. His handling of the impeachment of Lord Melville was generally admired. Along with Lords Grenville, Spencer and Ellenborough, Erskine was commissioned by the king to enquire into the morals of his daughter-in-law Caroline of Brunswick in what became known as the "delicate investigation".
  Erskine was Lord Chancellor for only fourteen months, having to give up the seals of office when the ministry of all the talents resigned over a disagreement with the king concerning the question of Catholic Emancipation. The king gave Erskine a week to finish pending cases, and Erskine took advantage of this to appoint one of his sons-in-law, Edward Morris, as master of Chancery.
caption: Lord Erskine as Lord Chancellor.
exif: {"Image Artist": "James Bartholomew", "Image ExifOffset": "2140", "Image XPAuthor": "James Bartholomew", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}