Background
Edward was born on December 9, 1731 in Ash, England, United Kingdom. He was the eldest son of the Rev. Thomas Thurlow.
Edward was born on December 9, 1731 in Ash, England, United Kingdom. He was the eldest son of the Rev. Thomas Thurlow.
He was educated at a private school and at the grammar school of Canterbury, where he was considered a bold, refractory, clever boy.
In 1748 Thurlow entered Caius College, Cambridge, but an act of insubordination necessitated his leaving Cambridge without a degree (1751).
Called to the bar in 1754, Thurlow became King’s Counsel in 1762, a member of the House of Commons in 1765, solicitor general in 1770, and attorney general in 1771. The post of attorney general was a reward for his prosecution of the publisher and printers of the pseudonymous “Junius” letters (1769–72) attacking George III and several leading politicians. Later he defended the British slave trade and absolutist rule of the North American colonies. Thurlow made many political enemies, among them Charles James Fox, who secured his temporary removal from the lord chancellorship in 1783, and William Pitt, the Younger, who came to regret restoring him to office. As lord chancellor, he incurred Prime Minister Pitt’s hatred by his conservative obstructionism in the House of Lords; Pitt finally compelled him to retire in 1792 and thereupon strengthened the principle of Cabinet solidarity. From his student days Thurlow was a friend of the poet William Cowper, and he provided financial aid to two other men of letters, George Crabbe and Samuel Johnson.
He was a member of House of Commons and House of Lords.
Quotes from others about the person
"No man ever was so wise as Thurlow looks. " (Charles James Fox)
Thurlow was never married, but left three natural daughters, for whom he made a handsome provision.
