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had issue, with a daughter Sophia, married in 1820 to Thomas Francis Kennedy [q. v.], six sons, viz. (1) William (1799–1855). (2) John, created Lord Romilly [q. v.] (3) Edward, of Porthkerry, Glamorganshire (1804–1870), M.P. for Ludlow in the first reformed parliament, member 1837–1866, and from 1855 chairman, of the board of audit, against the abolition of which he protested in a ‘Letter to the Right Honourable Benjamin Disraeli, M.P.,’ London, 1867, 8vo; he also published in 1862 ‘Reminiscences of the Life and Character of Count Cavour,’ from the French of De la Rive, London, 8vo. (4) Henry (1805–1884), a merchant of Liverpool, and author of ‘Public Responsibility and Vote by Ballot,’ London, 1865, 8vo, a defence of secret voting, reprinted with some posthumous papers on ‘The Punishment of Death,’ London, 1886, 8vo. (5) Charles (1808–1887), clerk to the crown in chancery. (6) Frederick (1810–1887), M.P. for Canterbury 1850–2, member 1864–9, and from 1873 to 1887 deputy chairman, of the board of customs.

Besides the trifles mentioned above, Romilly was author of: 1. ‘Observations on the Criminal Law of England, as it relates to Capital Punishment, and on the mode in which it is administered,’ London, 1810, 1811, and 1813, 8vo. 2. ‘Objections to the Project of creating a Vice-chancellor of England,’ London, 1813, 8vo. 3. The article on Bentham's papers relative to codification, ‘Edinburgh Review,’ vol. xxix. art. x., 1817.

Posthumously appeared: 1. ‘The Speeches of Sir Samuel Romilly in the House of Commons, with Memoir [by William Peter] and print of his portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence,’ London, 1820, 2 vols. 8vo. 2. ‘Memoirs of the Life of Sir Samuel Romilly, written by himself, with a selection from his correspondence,’ also engraving of the portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence, edited by his sons, London, 1840, 3 vols. 8vo. 3. ‘Notes of Cases extracted from the Manuscripts of Sir Samuel Romilly. With Notes by E. Romilly,’ London, 1872, 8vo.

Portraits of Romilly were painted by Martin Cregan and Sir Thomas Lawrence (in the National Gallery); engravings from both these pictures, and from sketches by other artists, are in the print-room at the British Museum.

[Memoir of the late Sir Samuel Romilly, M.P., 1818; Romilly's Memoirs and Speeches; Gent. Mag. 1828 ii. 465, 632; European Mag. ii. 418; Douthwaite's Gray's Inn; Foster's Gray's Inn Adm. Reg.; Foster's Peerage; Bennet's Select Biographical Sketches from the Notebooks of a Law Reporter, pp. 19–55; Bentham's Works, ed. Bowring, x. 186, 249–94, 396, 404–34; Dr. Parr's Works, ed. Johnstone, i. 552–5, 602, 801, vii. 211, viii. 559; Dumont's Souvenirs sur Mirabeau; Lord Minto's Life and Letters, i. 108, iii. 264; Francis Horner's Memoirs, 1853, i. 183, 193–6, ii. 13, 21, 114, 119; Macvey Napier's Corresp.; Bain's Life of James Mill, p. 126; Sir James Mackintosh's Memoirs, ii. 34; Brougham's Hist. Sketches of Statesmen, i. 290; Brougham's Life and Times, ii. 338; Duke of Buckingham's Memoirs of the Court of England during the Regency, i. 120, 245, 366, ii. 31, 33, 236, 283; Twiss's Life of Lord-chancellor Eldon, vol. ii.; Lady Holland's Memoir of the Rev. Sydney Smith, i. 144; Hansard's Parl. Debates, vols. vi.–xxxviii.; Yonge's Life of Robert Banks, second Earl of Liverpool, i. 192, ii. 369; Howell's State Trials, xxvi. 590, xxix. 1150; Grey's Life and Opinions of Charles, second Earl Grey, p. 282; Quarterly Review, lii. 398, lxvi. 564; Diaries and Corresp. of the Right Hon. George Rose, ed. Leveson Vernon Harcourt, ii. 268; Lord Colchester's Diary and Correspondence; Westminster Review, xxxiv. art. vi.; Roscoe's Eminent British Lawyers (Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia), pp. 391 et seq.; Nouv. Biogr. Gén.; Georgian Era, ii. 324; Eclectic Review, new ser. vol. viii. October 1840; Scarlett's Memoir of the Right Hon. James, first Lord Abinger, pp. 43–55; Walpole's Life of the Hon. Spencer Perceval, i. 200, 204, 340, ii. 90 n. 312; Public Characters, 1809–10; Sir Egerton Brydges's Autobiography, i. 301, and Recollections, i. 113; Cockburn's Journal, i. 3, 206, ii. 128; Penny Cyclop.; Encycl. Brit.; Imp. Dict. Univ. Biogr.; Memoir of Matthew Davenport Hill, p. 109; Brayley's Surrey, ed. Mantell, v. 67; Addit. MSS. 27781 f. 153, 29183 f. 295, 29185 f. 221; Lord Holland's Memoirs of the Whig Party, i. 234, ii. 150; Sir Henry Holland's Recollections, p. 243; Memoirs of Robert Plumer Ward, i. 301; Burke's Peerage and Landed Gentry, 1894.]

J. M. R.

ROMNEY, Earl of. [See Sidney, Henry, 1641–1704.]

ROMNEY, GEORGE (1734–1802), painter, born at Beckside, a house in the village of Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire, on 15 Dec. 1734, was son of John Romney, a builder and cabinet-maker. The elder Romney (or Rumney, as he himself always wrote the name, the more familiar form being an innovation of the painter) was a substantial man in his modest way. He farmed a small freehold inherited from his father, a yeoman of Appleby, who had migrated to Dalton during the troubles of the civil war. The sturdy rectitude of his character had won for him the name of ‘Honest John Rumney,’ and he seems to have been a man of some ability, with a turn for mechanics. He also enjoyed some local fame as the author of various practical experiments in agriculture. His wife,