On the formation of Lord Melbourne's second administration in April 1835, the great seal was in commission for a time, but Cottenham, who had been a commissioner, was eventually appointed Lord Chancellor in January 1836 and at the same time was raised to the peerage as Baron Cottenham of Cottenham in the County of Cambridge. He held office until the ministry's defeat in August 1841.[3]
Shortly before retirement, he was created Viscount Crowhurst, of Crowhurst in the County of Surrey, and Earl of Cottenham,[3] of Cottenham in the County of Cambridge. He lived at Prospect Place, Wimbledon in 1831–1851. He had succeeded his elder brother as third Baronet in 1845, and in 1849 his cousin as fourth Baronet of Juniper Hill.
Cottenham's niece Emily Pepys (1833–1887), daughter of Henry Pepys, Bishop of Worcester, was a child diarist. Her work was not rediscovered and published until 1984.[8]
References
^This branch of the family pronounced the name "Peppis", not "Peeps", like the diarist. Gillian Avery: Introduction. In: The Journal of Emily Pepys (London: Prospect Books, 1984. ISBN0-907325-24-6), p. 11.
^Woodham-Smith, Cecil (1995) [1953]. The Reason Why. Smithmark. p. 77.
^"No. 20836". The London Gazette. 14 March 1848. p. 1020. Whitehall, March 14, 1848. The Queen has been pleased to nominate and appoint the Honourable Charles Edward Pepys to be Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, in the room of Leonard Edmunds, Esq. resigned.