Thurlow, Edward, 1st Baron Thurlow (1732–1806)

English lawyer and Tory politician. He occupied high legal posts in government, as solicitor-general and attorney-general in the administration of Lord North (1770–82). As lord chancellor 1778–92, he served Whig and coalition governments, but took a consistently partisan approach to legislation, and was finally dismissed from office.

Thurlow was educated at Canterbury Grammar School and Caius College, Cambridge, but did not graduate. He qualified as a barrister in 1754, and in 1768 became MP for Tavistock. He was a zealous supporter of North, and won over George III by sharing the King's hostility towards his North American colonies' demands for independence. However, when he openly attacked prime minister William Pitt the Younger's National Debt Redemption Scheme, the King agreed to his removal from office. In addition to his political interests, Thurlow was the literary patron of Samuel Johnson and the poet George Crabbe.