Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford

Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford ( born April 25, 1794 in London, † October 5, 1878 in London) was a British lawyer and politician.

He was born in London, the third son of Charles Thesiger. His father had come as tax collector of St. Vincent (West Indies ) to prosperity. His brother, Sir Frederic Thesiger served under Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen as aide- de-camp.

Frederic Thesiger was also initially make a career in the Royal Navy. After his older brothers but both died and was clear that he would inherit his father's fortune, he studied law. Thesiger went to the bar a name. The paternal estate in the Caribbean, however, was completely destroyed by a volcanic eruption, so that Thesiger in the UK remained. He took a variety of spectacular criminal defense. In 1834 he was appointed King's Counsel.

From 1840 Thesiger was a member of the lower house. In 1844 he was appointed Solicitor General, in the following year to the Attorney General. In 1846 he resigned the government from office and took his law career again, his parliamentary seat he retained, however.

Under the government of Lord Derby, he became Lord Chancellor in 1858, at the same time, he was raised as Baron Chelmsford to the peerage. After the government was forced to resign already in the same year and Thesiger had held from 1866 to 1868 the office again, he retired from politics. He died ten years later in London.

Frederic Thesiger married in 1822 Anna Maria Tinling, with whom he had four sons and three daughters. His eldest son and heir of the title, Frederic Augustus Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford, was a British commander in the Zulu War.