Herbert Cozens-Hardy, 1st Baron Cozens-Hardy

Lord Cozens-Hardy

"fair, if not beautiful". Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1901

Monument, Kensal Green Cemetery

Herbert Hardy Cozens-Hardy, 1st Baron Cozens-Hardy, PC (22 November 1838 – 18 June 1920) was a British politician and Master of the Rolls from 1907 until 1918.

Early life

He was born in Letheringsett, Norfolk in 1838, the second son of William Hardy Cozens-Hardy and was educated at Amersham School.

He entered University College London in 1857 to read law and was called to the bar in 1862. In 1868 he married Maria Hepburn,^[1] who bore him two sons and two daughters before her death in 1886.

Career

By 1862 he was a Fellow of University College London, a QC, Bencher of Lincoln's Inn and Chairman of the General Council of the Bar. From 1885 to 1889 he was also the Liberal M.P. for North Norfolk, resigning his seat on his appointment to the Bench.

Knighted in 1889 he was firstly a Judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice. In November 1901 he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal^[2] and a Privy Councillor.^[3] He served seven years as Master of the Rolls, simultaneously serving as Chairman of the Historical Manuscripts Commission. He was created Baron Cozens-Hardy, of Letheringsett, on 1 July 1914. Retiring in 1918, he died less than two years later in 1920 aged 81.

He is the subject of a poem (Lord Cozens Hardy, without the hyphen) by John Betjeman.

Through his eldest daughter, Katharine, he was the maternal grandfather of Kenneth Horne.

His younger daughter, Hope, married Austin Pilkington of the Pilkington glassmaking family.

Baron Cozens-Hardy is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.

References

1. Who was Who 1916–1928, 1992 reprint: ISBN 0-7136-3143-0
2. The London Gazette: no. 27372. p. 7144. 5 November 1901.
3. The London Gazette: no. 27372. p. 7138. 5 November 1901.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Herbert Cozens-Hardy