Roundell Palmer

PALMER, Roundell, Earl of Selborne. b. Mixbury, Oxfordshire, 27 November 1812; d. Blackmoor, Hampshire, 4 May 1895. Born the son of a clergyman from a wealthy family, he was educated at Rugby School and Winchester College. He entered Christ Church, Oxford, but was offered a scholarship at Trinity College (BA 1834, MA 1836). He became a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1834. He became a lawyer, and was called to the Bar in 1837. Seeking a political career, he was MP for Plymouth in 1847, and held various posts and seats thereafter, opposing the Crimean War but becoming Solicitor-General in 1861 and Attorney General in 1863. After beginning his political life as a Conservative, he later...