Close friend, literary mentor, and frequent correspondent of
Mary Russell Mitford. A native of Reading, Talfourd was educated at the Reading’s newly-established Mill Hill school, a
dissenting academy, from 1808 to 1810. He attended Dr.
Richard Valpy’s Reading School from 1810 to 1812. His career in law began with a legal apprenticeship with Joseph
Christy, special pleader, in
1817. He was called to the bar in London in 1821 and ultimately earned a
D.C.L. (Doctor of Civil Laws) from Oxford on June 20, 1844. While
establishing his practice as a barrister and special pleader, he worked as
legal correspondent for
The
Times, reporting on the Oxford
Circuit, and also continued his literary interests. After 1833,
he was appointed Serjeant at Law, as well as a King’s and Queen’s Counsel.
He was elected and served as Member of Parliament for
Reading
from 1835 to 1841 and
from 1847 to 1849
; he served with
Charles Fyshe
Palmer,
Charles Russell, and
Francis Piggott. Highlights of his political and
legal career included introducing the first copyright bill
into Parliament in
1837 (for which action
Charles
Dickens dedicated
Pickwick Papers
to him) and defending
Edward
Moxon’s publication of
Percy Shelley’s
Queen Mab in
1841
. He was appointed Queen’s Serjeant in
1846
and Judge of Common Pleas in
1849
, at which post he served until his death in 1854. He
was knighted in
1850
.