Samuel Salt (died 1792) was an English lawyer and

Whig Whig or Whigs may refer to: Parties and factions In the British Isles * Whigs (British political party), one of two political parties in England, Great Britain, Ireland, and later the United Kingdom, from the 17th to 19th centuries ** Whiggism ...

politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1768 to 1790. He is also known for his connection to the family of author

Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book ''Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764– ...

Early life

Salt was the son of John Salt, vicar of

Audley, Staffordshire Audley is a large village in Staffordshire, England. It is the centre of Audley Rural parish, approximately four miles (6 km) north west of Newcastle-under-Lyme and 3 miles (5 km) from Alsager near the Staffordshire-Cheshire border. Audley is ...

. He was admitted at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1741, at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and W ...

in 1745, and was called to the bar in 1753. He was a Director of the

South Sea Company The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in Ja ...

from 1769 to 1775 and was deputy Governor from 1775 until his death.historyofparliamentonline.org, ''Salt, Samuel (c.1723-92), of the Inner Temple''.
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Political career

Salt was a lawyer for the Eliot family of Port Eliot. On the interest of the Eliot family Salt was returned to parliament at the

1768 general election The 1768 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 13th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election took plac ...

for their pocket-boroughs of and . He chose to sit for Liskeard and was returned there again in

1774 Events January–March * January 21 – Mustafa III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, dies and is succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid I. * January 27 ** An angry crowd in Boston, Massachusetts seizes, tars, and feathers British customs c ...

and

1780 Events January–March * January 16 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Cape St. Vincent: British Admiral Sir George Rodney defeats a Spanish fleet. * February 19 – The legislature of New York votes to allo ...

. In politics he was a Whig. Salt was expected to stand again at Liskeard in the 1784 general election but instead he stood for in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

on the interest of

Philip Champion de Crespigny Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738–1803) was a British lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1774 and 1790. He was of Huguenot descent, the son of Philip Champion de Crespigny (1704-1765), proctor of the Admiralty cour ...

. Crespigny's brother was also a director of the

. Salt did not stand in

1790 Events January–March * January 8 – United States President George Washington gives the first State of the Union address, in New York City. * January 11 – The 11 minor states of the Austrian Netherlands, which took ...

Lamb family

John Lamb, father of Charles Lamb, was Salt's clerk for nearly 40 years. Charles was born in

Crown Office Row The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wa ...

, where Salt owned chambers, and it was the home of the Lamb family until 1792. Salt procured the admission of Charles to

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 155 ...

. Through Salt's s influence as a governor of the

, Charles and his elder brother obtained clerkships under the company.

Later years

Salt became bencher at the Inner Temple in 1782, reader in 1787 and treasurer in 1788. He died at his chambers in Crown Office Row, Inner Temple, on 27 July 1792, and was buried in a vault of the

Temple Church The Temple Church is a Royal peculiar church in the City of London located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters. It was consecrated on 10 February 1185 by Patriarch Heraclius of J ...

. A shield with his coat-of-arms was placed in the sixteenth panel (counting from the west) on the north side of the Inner Temple hall. He was unmarried.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Salt, Samuel Year of birth missing 1792 deaths English barristers Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall People from Audley, Staffordshire British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Inner Temple