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Republished here on as a download title is The Poll at the Election of High Steward of the University of Cambridge, which was taken on the 11th, 12th & 13th November. 1840. All 1,461 voters were recorded, as well as who they voted for. The Candidates for position of High Steward were the Rt. Hon. John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst, LL.D., and the Rt. Hon. William Henry Lyttleton, 4th Baron Lyttleton, M.A., both graduates of the university. Lord Lyndhurst (1772-1863) was called to the bar in 1804 and gained a considerable practice and reputation. He was Member of Parliament for Yarmouth, the Isle of Wight, Cambridge University and Ashburton and also served as Solicitor General, Attorney General, Master of the Rolls and Lord Chancellor amongst his many other offices. Lyndhurst's opponent was William Henry Lyttleton, son of William Henry Lyttleton, 3rd Baron and Lady Sarah, daughter of George John Spencer, 2nd Earl, making Lyttleton a very distant, but nevertheless ancestor of Lady Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales. Lyttleton's career included his appointment as Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in the Conservative Government of Sir Robert Peel, Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire and first president of the Birmingham and Midland Institute. As Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies he founded the region of Canterbury, New Zealand, whose port still bears his name. Lord Lyndhurst won the election by a majority of very nearly two-to-one.

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