Yorke (Family) : Philip Yorke (1690-1764) was the only son of Philip Yorke (d. 1721), a solicitor of Dover, Kent, by Elizabeth, widow of Edward Gibbon, and only daughter of Richard Gibbon of Dover. He was born at Dover on 1 December 1690 and educated at Mr. Morland's school at Bethnal Green, Middlesex. In 1708 he enrolled at the Middle Temple and became a barrister in 1715. In 1724 he removed to Lincoln's Inn, where he was elected a Bencher in the same year. He was Solicitor General, 1720-1724; Attorney General, 1724-1733; Privy Councillor from 1733; Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 1733-1737; Speaker of the House of Lords, 1734 and 1736; and Lord Chancellor, 1736-1756. In 1720 he was knighted; in 1733 he was created Baron Hardwicke of Hardwicke in the County of Gloucester; and in 1754 created Viscount Royston and Earl of Hardwicke. He died in London on 6 March 1764.
The lst Earl of Hardwicke was succeeded by his eldest son, Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke (1720-1790). Having died without male heirs, the 2nd Earl was succeeded by his nephew, Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke (1757-1834), the son of the Hon. Charles Yorke (1722-1770) by his first wife, Catherine, née Freeman. Dying without male heirs in his turn, the 3rd Earl was succeeded by his nephew, Charles Philip Yorke, 4th Earl of Hardwicke (1799-1873), who was the son of Vice-Admiral Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke (1768-1831), son of the Hon. Charles Yorke (1722-1770) by his second wife, Agneta, née Johnstone.
Yorke, Charles, 1722-1770 : The Hon. Charles Yorke (1722-1770) was born on 30 December 1722. He was the second son of Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke (1690-1764), brother of the 2nd Earl, father of the 3rd Earl, and grandfather of the 4th Earl. He was at the Middle Temple from 1735, Cambridge from 1739, Lincoln's Inn from 1742, and was called to the bar in 1746.
Charles Yorke, 1st Baron Morden, was Solicitor-General of England, 1756-1761, and Attorney General, 1762-1763 and 1765-1766. As a law officer of the Crown, he gave opinions to the government on many legal matters of importance to Canada, including treaties and legislation. His draft of a constitution for the Province of Quebec formed the substance of the Quebec Act of 1774.
In January 1770, accepted the Lord Chancellorship, in spite of his family's strong objection. In anticipation, a Royal Warrant was issued, 18 January 1770, creating him Baron Morden. While the patent was still in preparation, however, he committed suicide on 20 January 1770, after a difficult evening with a brother.
