Westbury, Lord (1800-1873), helped modernize the laws of the United Kingdom. He served in the three top legal posts in the British government: as solicitor general from 1852 to 1856, as attorney general from 1856 to 1861, and as lord chancellor from 1861 to 1865. He proposed or guided through Parliament many reforms designed to modernize the law and to remedy legal abuses of the time. These reforms included two acts that repealed out-of-date or unnecessary acts of Parliament, which helped to streamline British law.
Westbury was born Richard Bethell in Bristol, England, on June 30, 1800. He graduated from Oxford University in 1818, then became a barrister (lawyer) in 1823 and a queen’s counsel in 1840. In 1851, he was elected to Parliament as a Liberal. He was made First Baron Westbury in 1861. He died in London on July 20, 1873.
