Page:A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices.djvu/114

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94
Fletcher — Fonblanque.
FLETCHER, JOSEPH.
Statistician.
1813—1852.

Admitted 5 April, 1838.

Third son of George Fletcher of Rennes, France. He was called to the Bar 7 May, 1841. For many years he was engaged as Secretary of the Handloom Inquiry and other Commissions, and his reports on these, as well as on educational matters after his appointment in 1844 as one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, were of great value. He was also the honorary secretary of the Statistical Society of London and the editor of its Journal. In 1850 he published a Summary of the Moral Statistics of England and Wales, and in the following year a work on Education. He died at Chirk, 11 Aug. 1852.


FLOOD, Sir FREDERICK.
Irish Politician.
1741—1824.

Admitted 20 March, 1760.

Second son of John Flood of Floodhall, co. Kilkenny. He was born in Dublin in 1741, and educated at Trinity College. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1763. Succeeding to his father's estate, he was elected in 1776 to the Irish House of Commons for Enniscorthy. In 1778 he was made a K.C. and elected a Bencher of the King's Inns, and two years later created a Baronet. He took a frequent part in the debates of the House, where his speeches attracted attention from their wit, and more still, from their oddity and frequent blunderings. He opposed the Act of Union, but sat in the United Parliament from 1812 to 1818. He died 1 Feb. 1824. He was a cousin of the more celebrated Henry Flood, the Irish Statesman and Orator, a connexion to which, more than to his own abilities, he owed his reputation.


FONBLANQUE, ALBANY WILLIAM.
Journalist.
1793—1872.

Admitted 27 January, 1814.

Third son of John Fonblanque (q.v.), one of the Masters of the Bench of the Middle Temple. He began his legal studies under Mr. Chitty (q.v.), but his tastes leading him to journalism, he soon acquired a great reputation as a contributor and leader-writer to the Morning Chronicle, Times, Examiner, and Westminster Review. In 1837 he republished his most remarkable articles in these papers under the title of England under Seven Administrations, a book of lasting interest. He was for some time Editor of the Examiner, but relinquished the post in 1847, and the latter part of his life was passed in comparative retirement. He died 13 Oct. 1872.


FONBLANQUE, JOHN.[1]
Jurist.
1760—1837.

Admitted 24 September, 1777.

Second son of Jean Fonblanque of Water Lane, near Tower Street, a naturalized Frenchman of Huguenot descent. He was educated at Harrow and Oxford. He was called to the Bar 24 Jan. 1783, and became an Equity lawyer of great repute, and was made King's Counsel in 1804. At the time of his death, 4 Jan. 1837, he was the senior Bencher of the Inn and "Father of the English Bar." He was buried in the Temple Church.

His work on Equity, first published in 1792, became the standard work on the subject and was frequently republished. Writing of him. Lord Lyndhurst said he "knew no one so perfect a master of the philosophy of law."

  1. He is commonly described as John de Grenier Fonblanque, but in the Register he is entered simply "John."