New book explains the historic origins of famous Harborough family

The nineteen baron Ellenborough, Rupert Law, is the direct descendant of Edward Law and resides in Clipston, and the book tells the story of the rise power of the Law family in four generations. Edward Law's grandfather was a curate, his father was a bishop, and Edward Law himself rose to be the Chief Justice of England and a member of the House of Lords.

Law was seen at the time as a merciless judge. This was the age of the bloody code in Georgian England, when men could be hanged for stealing horses or passing false bank notes, and there were 220 other crimes that could result in the death penalty. Law was an enthusiastic supporter of these harsh punishments, and in 1803 helped pass a new law which made abortion a criminal offence for the first time. In England, abortion law was still based on his ideas until the 1960s, and in the USA until today.

He also crusaded hard against libel, adultery, obscene materials, and treason (where he actually seemed to enjoy sentencing people to a horrific death by being hanged drawn and quartered, like Guy Fawkes was two centuries earlier). He was also sarcastic and bad tempered to the point that even lawyers were terrified of him. His nickname was Hellenborough amongst the poor, but Law was so popular with the government that in 1802 he became Lord Ellenborough; his son, also Edward, later became a government minister and the Governor General of India, and was promoted to an Earldom, the title still held by the family in Clipston.

Hobson's book also covers all the key trials of the early nineteenth century, and the major events of the Regency that Law/ Ellenborough was involved with. He also tells the story of Law's wife, Anne Towry, who lived the life of a privileged Georgian gentlewoman in a very different way to her husband.

Should the modern Leicestershire descendants have any embarrassment about having such a strict and sometimes cruel relative? Absolutely not, says the author; Ellenborough was simply behaving like all judges did during the Georgian era, and in any case, it is not accurate to judge people from the past by the standards we hold today. He also had many good points; it was agreed that he was the cleverest judge of his generation, could not be bribed and treated everybody- rich and poor- the same way. Ellenborough was also responsible for a ruling that refugees were entitled to help from the government so they would not starve, and modern human rights lawyers still use 'Ellenborough's law of humanity' today to defend and help refugees.

The Georgian 'Establishment', published by Pen and Sword, tells the story of life in Britain 1780-1820, and also gives Law the biography he deserves.