Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury (1800–73)

Legal reformer and lord chancellor. Graduated in classics and mathematics, Oxford University, 1819. Called to the bar as a member of the Middle Temple, 1820. Practised in the equity courts from 1823. MP for Aylesbury, 1851. Appointed vice-chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, 1851. Became solicitor-general, 1852; attorney-general, 1856; lord chancellor, 1861–5. Took the title Baron Westbury of Westbury in 1861. Knighted, 1852.