_Randle Wilbraham._--Randle Wilbraham, Esq., the grandfather of Lord
Skelmersdale, who died upon the 3rd of April last, was a lawyer of great
eminence, and held the office of treasurer of Lincoln's Inn. The university
of Oxford conferred, by diploma, the degree of D.C.L. upon him in these
notable terms:
"Placuit nobis in Convocatione die 14 mensis Aprilis 1761, solenniter
convocatis spectatissimum Ranulphum Wilbraham, Arm. Coll. Ænæi Nasi
quondam commensalem, in agendis causis pro diversis Tribunalibus per
multos retro annos hodieque versatissimum, Subsenescallum nostrum et
Consiliarium fidissimum, Gradu Doctoris in Jure Civili insignire. Cujus
quidem hæc præcipua ac prope singularis et est, et semper fuit, quod
propriis ingenii et industriæ suæ viribus innixus Aulici favoris nec
appetens, nec particeps, sine ullo magnatum patrocinio, sine turpi
Adulantium aucupio, ad summam tamen in Foro, in Academia, in Senatu,
tum gloriam, tum etiam authoritatem facilem sibi et stabilem munivit
viam, Fortunæ suæ si quis alius Deo Favente vere Faber", &c.
The above is copied from the original diploma, which Mr. Randle Wilbraham
gave to his nephew, the late Dr. William Falconer of Bath. On the death of
Mr. R. Wilbraham, Chief Justice Wilmot wrote "I have lost my old friend Mr.
Wilbraham: he died in the seventy-seventh year of his age, and has not left
a better lawyer, or an honester man behind him."