George W. Biddle. LL.D., for twenty years the leader of the Philadelphia bar, was born in Philadelphia, January 11, 1818, the son of Clement Cornell and Mary (Barclay) Biddle.

He was educated at Mount St. Mary's College, Maryland, and subsequently studied law in the offices of his uncle, James C. Biddle, and of the Hon. John Cadwalader, being admitted to the Philadelphia bar on January 10, 1839. At once he began that career of successful effort which gradually bore its fruit in the general acknowledgment of his leadership in the Philadelphia bar. At different times Mr. Biddle held the offices of school director, common councilman, and trustee of the gas works of Philadelphia. He represented the first senatorial district in the convention of 1873 to revise and amend the constitution of the state of Pennsylvania. He afterwards represented the constitutional convention when the question of their right to submit that interest to the people was called in question, and was successful in defending that right. Among other famous cases in which he appeared was that in which he represented the Democratic party in the contest in Florida over the vote of that state in the Hayes-Tilden presidential controversy of 1876. He also represented the United States in one of the fishery disputes between this country and Canada.

Mr. Biddle was a member of the American Bar Association, and among the papers read by him before that and other learned bodies are: "An Inquiry Into the Proper Mode of Trial"; "Lien of the Debts of a Descendant on His Real Estate in Pennsylvania;" "Retrospective Legislation;" "Contribution Among Terre-Tenants." and "Chief-Justice Taney, His Relations to and Influence on the Federal Constitution." He also prepared an index to the English Common Law Reports.

Upon the death of his two children, Mr. Biddle gave to the University of Pennsylvania, as a memorial to them over five thousand volumes to form the nucleus of a law library, to he known as the George and Algernon Sydney Biddle Library. When Arthur Biddle died, in 1897 his widow added to this collection about four thousand volumes, and the entire library is now known as the Biddle Law Library, and is located on the second floor of the new law building of the university.
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