Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux

The Right Honourable The Lord Brougham and Vaux PC FRS
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
In office 22 November 1830 – 9 July 1834
Monarch	William IV
Prime Minister	Earl Grey
Preceded by	Lord Lyndhurst
Succeeded by	Lord Lyndhurst
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office 22 November 1830 – 7 May 1868 Hereditary peerage
Preceded by	Peerage created
Succeeded by	The 2nd Lord Brougham and Vaux
Member of Parliament for Knaresborough
In office February 1830 – August 1830
Preceded by	George Tierney
Succeeded by	Henry Cavendish
Member of Parliament for Winchelsea
In office 1815 – February 1830
Preceded by	William Vane
Succeeded by	John Williams
Member of Parliament for Camelford
In office 1810 – November 1812
Preceded by	Lord Henry Petty
Succeeded by	Samuel Scott
Personal details
Born	Henry Peter Brougham (1778-09-19)19 September 1778 Cowgate, Edinburgh
Died	7 May 1868(1868-05-07) (aged 89) Cannes, Second French Empire
Nationality	British
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	Mary Anne Eden (1785–1865)
Children	2
Parent(s)	Henry Brougham Eleanora Syme
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh

Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, PC, FRS (/ˈbruː(ə)m ... ˈvoʊks/; 19 September 1778 – 7 May 1868) was a British statesman who became Lord High Chancellor and played a prominent role in passing the Reform Act 1832 and Slavery Abolition Act 1833.

Born in Edinburgh, Brougham helped found the Edinburgh Review in 1802 before moving to London, where he qualified as a barrister in 1808. Elected to the House of Commons in 1810 as a Whig, he was Member of Parliament for various constituencies until becoming a peer in 1830.

Brougham won popular renown for helping defeat the 1820 Pains and Penalties Bill, an attempt by the widely disliked George IV to annul his marriage to Caroline of Brunswick. He became an advocate of liberal causes including abolition of the slave trade, free trade^{[citation needed]} and parliamentary reform. Appointed Lord Chancellor in 1830, he made a number of reforms intended to speed up legal cases and established the Central Criminal Court. He never regained government office after 1834 and although he played an active role in the House of Lords, he often did so in opposition to his former colleagues.

Education was another area of interest. He helped establish the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge and University College London, as well as holding some academic posts, including Rector, University of Edinburgh. In later years he spent much of his time in the French town of Cannes, making it a popular resort for the British upper-classes; he died there in 1868.