Robert Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth

The Right Honourable The Lord Cranworth PC
Lord Cranworth wearing the parliamentary robes of a baron
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
In office 28 December 1852 – 21 February 1858
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Earl of Aberdeen The Viscount Palmerston
Preceded by	The Lord St Leonards
Succeeded by	The Lord Chelmsford
In office 7 July 1865 – 26 June 1866
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Viscount Palmerston The Earl Russell
Preceded by	The Lord Westbury
Succeeded by	The Lord Chelmsford
Personal details
Born	(1790-12-18)18 December 1790 Cranworth, Norfolk
Died	26 July 1868(1868-07-26) (aged 77) Holwood House Keston, Kent United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Robert Monsey Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth, PC (18 December 1790 – 26 July 1868) was a British lawyer and Liberal politician. He twice served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.

Born at Cranworth, Norfolk, he was the elder son of the Reverend Edmund Rolfe and Jemima Alexander, James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon's niece and a granddaughter of physician Messenger Monsey.^{[note 1]} Rolfe, a relative of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson,^[2] was educated at Bury St Edmunds, Winchester, Trinity College, Cambridge,^[3] Downing College, Cambridge (of which he was elected fellow) ^[4] and was called to the bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1816.^[5]

Cranworth represented Penryn and Falmouth in Parliament from 1832 until he was appointed a Baron of the Exchequer in 1839.^[3] In 1850 he was appointed a Vice-Chancellor and raised to the peerage as Baron Cranworth, of Cranworth in the County of Norfolk. In 1852 Lord Cranworth became Lord Chancellor in Lord Aberdeen's coalition ministry.

In 1854, Cranworth was appointed to the Royal Commission for Consolidating the Statute Law, a royal commission to consolidate existing statutes and enactments of English law.^[6]

Cranworth continued to hold the chancellorship also in the administration of Lord Palmerston until the latter's resignation in 1858. Cranworth was not reappointed when Palmerston returned to office in 1859, but on the retirement of Lord Westbury in 1865 he accepted the office for a second time, and held it till the fall of the Russell administration in 1866.^[3]

In 1845, Cranworth married Laura Carr (1807–1868), daughter of Thomas William Carr (born 1770). The couple had no children.

Lord Cranworth died at his seat, Holwood House, on 26 July 1868, aged 77, after a short illness related to the heat.^[7] He was childless and the title became extinct on his death.^[3]

• Fouldes v. Willoughby (1841)
• Aberdeen Rly Co v Blaikie Bros (1854)
• Scott v Avery (1855)
• Jones v Lock (1865)
• Rylands v. Fletcher judgment given 9 days before his death.

Coat of arms of Robert Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth

Crest A dove Argent in the beak a sprig of olive Proper ducally gorged Gules and resting the dexter foot upon three annulets interlaced Or. Escutcheon Gyronny of eight Argent and Gules an eagle displayed Sable charged on the breast with a sun in splendour Or. Supporters On either side a stag Or charged on the neck with four bandlets Sable upon the attires a ribbon Gules passing through an annulet Gold. Motto Post Nubila Phœbus [8]

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source] [better source needed]}
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Robert Rolfe
• Portraits of Robert Monsey Rolfe, Baron Cranworth at the National Portrait Gallery, London