Sir Thomas Plumer (10 October 1753 – 24 March 1824) was a Britishjudge andpolitician, the firstVice-Chancellor of England and laterMaster of the Rolls.
Plumer was the second son of wine merchant Thomas Plumer (died 17 March 1781) of Lilling Hall, Yorkshire, and Ann Nancy, daughter of John Thompson of Kirby Hall, Yorkshire.[1] His brother wasHall Plumer ofStockton Hall. He married Marianne, daughter of John Turton of Sugnall;[2][3] one of their great-grandsons wasGeneral Plumer.[4]
Plumer was educated atEton College andUniversity College, Oxford, where he wasVinerian Scholar in 1777, also enteringLincoln's Inn and being called to the bar in 1778.[5] He was elected a fellow of University College in 1780 and was awarded the Bachelor of Civil Law degree in 1783.
In 1781, Plumer was appointed aCommissioner in bankruptcy. He acted for the defence in a number of high-profile cases: he defendedSir Thomas Rumbold in 1783, was one of the three counsel for the defence in theImpeachment of Warren Hastings, successfully defendedViscount Melville in his impeachment in 1806,[6] and assisted in the defence of thePrincess of Wales in the same year. In 1807, Plumer was appointedSolicitor General in theDuke of Portland's government, and knighted; a House of Commons seat was found for him in theWiltshire pocket borough ofDownton. He was subsequently promoted toAttorney General in 1812 then, in the legal reorganisation that took place the following year, was elevated to the bench to take up the new post ofVice Chancellor of England. On 6 January 1818 he was appointedMaster of the Rolls, and served in that post until his death on 24 March 1824.[5]
Clive Hodges:Cobbold & Kin: Life Stories from an East Anglian Family (Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2014)ISBN 9781843839545
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| Preceded by | Solicitor General 1807–1812 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Attorney General 1812–1813 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Master of the Rolls 1818–1824 | Succeeded by |
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forDownton 1807–1813 With:Hon. Bartholomew Bouverie 1807–12 Charles Henry Bouverie 1812–13 | Succeeded by |
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