Hardinge Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury

Hardinge Stanley Giffard, Earl of Halsbury PC QC 1st (* September 3, 1823, † December 11, 1921 ) was a British barrister, politician and government official. He was three times Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Life

Halsbury, was born as the third son of Stanley Lees Giffard, an author at Evening Standard, and his wife Susanna, daughter of Francis Moran. He attended Merton College, Oxford, and was admitted in 1850 as an attorney in the chamber Inner Temple. In 1865 he was appointed Attorney-General.

Giffard ran twice, in 1868 and 1874, unsuccessfully for the general election, and was appointed in 1875 by Benjamin Disraeli to the Solicitor General as well as raised to knighthood. In 1877 he gained a seat in the House of Commons and held it until 1885, when he was raised to Baron Halsbury, of Halsbury in the County of Devon. In the same year he was first Lord Chancellor and this was two more times, with breaks in 1886 and 1892-1895, until 1905.

Family

Halsbury 1852 married his first wife Caroline, daughter of WC Humphreys. This marriage remained childless, and his wife died in September 1873. His second wife Wilhelmina, daughter of Henry Woodfall, he married in 1874. After his death, his only son Hardinge was heir.