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Law
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Law

his father, the office of joint chief clerk of the pleas in the queen's bench, which is said to have been worth 7,000l. a year.

Ellenborough's talents, both as a military authority and as an orator, were conspicuous, and time has justified many of his acts which were in their day most condemned (for criticisms of his oratory see Revue Britannique, September 1828, p. 35, and March 1837). He was vain (see Greville Memoirs, 2nd ser. ii. 139, 141), and often theatrical, and was too masterful and self-confident to be a good tenant of office; but his follies and failures are now seen to have been relatively insignificant, and the brilliancy of his abilities, which was never doubted, remains almost undimmed. He was twice married, first, in 1813, to Lady Octavia Stewart, youngest daughter of Robert, first marquis of Londonderry (she died 5 March 1819); and secondly, 15 Sept. 1824, to Jane Elizabeth, daughter of Rear-admiral Henry Digby, from whom he was divorced by act of parliament in 1830 for her adultery with Prince Schwartzenburg in 1828. She was a woman of great beauty and linguistic and artistic talents. After an adventurous but dubious career in Europe she married at Damascus the Sheikh Mijwal of the tribe Mezrab, a branch of the Anazeh Bedouins. She subsequently resided for many years in camp in the desert near Damascus (see Revue Britannique, March and April 1873, pp. 256 and 511, quoting an account of her by her friend Isabel (Lady) Burton). His only child, a son by his second wife, died in 1830, and, as he left no issue, the earldom became extinct on his death. He was succeeded in the barony by his nephew, Charles Edmund.

[In addition to the authorities cited above, see Lord Colchester's Memoir prefixed to Lord Ellenborough's Diary, 1828–30; Martin's Life of the Prince Consort, vol. iv.; Greville Memoirs, 2nd ser.; Times 23 Dec. 1871; Hansard's Parl. Debates; Lord Malmesbury's Memoirs; Lord Colchester's Diary; Sir W. Fraser's Disraeli and his Day, p. 230.]

J. A. H.

LAW, GEORGE HENRY, D.D. (1761–1845), bishop successively of Chester and of Bath and Wells, the thirteenth child and seventh son of Edmund Law [q. v.], bishop of Carlisle, by his wife Mary, daughter of John Christian, esq., was born at Peterhouse Lodge, Cambridge, 12 Sept. 1761. He received his early education under the Rev. John King at Ipswich, and 23 Jan. 1775 was placed on the foundation of Charterhouse under Dr. Berdmore. Matriculating at Queens' College, Cambridge, 19 Dec. 1776, he commenced to reside the following October under the tuition of Dr. Isaac Milner [q. v.], was elected scholar 23 Jan. 1779, and graduated B.A. in 1781 as second wrangler and senior chancellor's medallist, a combination of honours which had been previously gained by his two elder brothers, John Law [q. v.], afterwards bishop of Elphin, and Edward Law [q. v.] (Lord-chief-justice Ellenborough). His subsequent degrees were M.A. 1784, B.D. and D.D. 1804. He was elected fellow of Queens' in June 1781, became 'prælector Græcus' 5 Oct. of that year, and 'prælector mathematicus' the following year. He vacated his fellowship 29 July 1784, on his marriage to Jane, the eldest daughter of General Adeane, M.P. for the county of Cambridge. He was collated by his father in 1785 to a prebendal stall in Carlisle Cathedral, and two years later was presented by him, a few days before his death, to the vicarage of Torpenhow, Cumberland. In 1791 he was presented by Bishop Yorke of Ely to the rectory of Kelshall, Hertfordshire, where he resided eleven years, and in 1804 by the same patron to Willingham, Cambridgeshire. In 1812 he was nominated to the see of Chester, owing his elevation partly to the powerful influence of his brother the lord chief justice, but chiefly to the personal favour of the prince regent. He was consecrated in Whitehall Chapel, 5 July 1812, by Archbishop Harcourt. At Chester he proved himself an active and practical bishop, personally visiting every parish in what was then a very extensive and laborious diocese, and doing much for the augmentation of the small livings, the improvement of the churches and parsonage-houses, and the restoration of the cathedral. He conferred what was at the time a great benefit on an impoverished diocese by the establishment in 1817 and partial endowment of the college of St. Bees for the training of candidates for holy orders, whose means did not permit of their going to either university (Carlisle, Endowed Grammar Schools, i. 169). In 1824, on the death of Bishop Richard Beadon [q. v.], he was translated to the see of Bath and Wells, which he held till his death. In his new diocese he pursued the beneficial policy which he had adopted at Chester. In 1836 a church building society was established under his auspices, and he set on foot a system of cottage allotments. He died 22 Sept. 1845, aged 84, at his favourite retreat, Banwell Cottage, after a gradual decay of mind and body, which had for some years prevented him from performing his duties, and was buried at Wells. He left four sons and five daughters. Among the sons three were in holy orders: James Thomas [q. v.], chancellor of Lichfield; Henry [q. v.], dean of Gloucester; and Robert Vanbrugh, canon of Chester and