| override_editor

“ FOLLETT, Sir William Webb (1798–1845) , attorney-general of England, was born at Topsham in Devonshire, December 2, 1798. He was the son of Captain Benjamin Follett, who had retired from the army in 1790, and engaged in business at Topsham. His mother was an Irish lady of Kinsale. The early indications which he gave of superior abilities induced his father to bring him up for the bar. He received his early education at Exeter grammar-school, of which Dr Lempriere, author of the well-known Classical Dictionary, was then head-master. ”

“ In 1830 he married the eldest daughter of Sir Ambrose Harding Gifford, chief justice of Ceylon. His reputation in Westminster Hall being solidly established, he sought in 1832 an entrance into parliament, and offered himself as candidate for the city of Exeter on the Conservative side. ”