Charles Jasper Selwyn
Encyclopedia
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
, QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
(13 October 1813 – 11 August 1869), was an English lawyer, politician and Lord Justice of Appeal
Lord Justice of Appeal
A Lord Justice of Appeal is an ordinary judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, and represents the second highest level of judge in the courts of England and Wales-Appointment:...
.
Background and education
Selwyn was born at Church Row, HampsteadHampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, the third and youngest son of William Selwyn (1775–1855), and brother of George Augustus Selwyn
George Augustus Selwyn
George Augustus Selwyn was the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand. He was Bishop of New Zealand from 1841 to 1858. His diocese was then subdivided and Selwyn was Primate of New Zealand from 1858 to 1868. He was Bishop of Lichfield from 1868 to 1878...
, Bishop of Lichfield
Bishop of Lichfield
The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 4,516 km² of the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed...
, and of William Selwyn (1806–1875), divine. He was educated at Ealing, Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, and Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, of which he was successively scholar and fellow. He graduated B.A. 1836, M.A. 1839, and LL.D. 1862.
Political and legal career
Selwyn was called to the BarCall to the bar
The Call to the Bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party, and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received a "call to the bar"...
, Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
, on 27 January 1840, practised chiefly before the Master of the Rolls
Master of the Rolls
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the second most senior judge in England and Wales, after the Lord Chief Justice. The Master of the Rolls is the presiding officer of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal...
, and amassed a large fortune. He served as Commissary to the university of Cambridge from 1855 to 1868, became a Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
on 7 April 1856, and in the same year was made a bencher
Bencher
A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher can be elected while still a barrister , in recognition of the contribution that the barrister has made to the life of the Inn or to the law...
of his inn. He entered parliament as member for Cambridge University
Cambridge University (UK Parliament constituency)
Cambridge University was a university constituency electing two members to the British House of Commons, from 1603 to 1950.-Boundaries, Electorate and Election Systems:...
in April 1859, and sat for that constituency until 1868. He was a staunch conservative and a churchman. He first spoke in the house on the address to the queen on arming the volunteer corps , and on 13 August 1859 made a speech on a question of privilege connected with the Pontefract election inquiry. In the same month he moved a resolution whereby the committee on the Stamp Duties Bill was enabled to introduce a clause extending probate duty to property exceeding one million in value, and a few months later secured the rejection of Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn
Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn
Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician.Dillwyn was born in Swansea, Wales, the second son of Lewis Weston Dillwyn and Mary Dillwyn . His father had been sent to Swansea by his father William, to take over the management of the Cambrian Pottery, and lived at Sketty...
's Endowed Schools Bill.
Selwyn's speech on the motion for the second reading of the Ecclesiastical Commission Bill was considered his best. He spoke for a long time against the bill, and moved an amendment to it. The bill was subsequently withdrawn after a three nights' debate. On 20 February 1861 he divided the house successfully by an amendment to the Trustees of Charities Bill. One of his last speeches was on the Reform Bill of 1867
Reform Act 1867
The Representation of the People Act 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102 was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised the urban male working class in England and Wales....
, when he advocated that the lodger franchise should be extended to university lodgers in the town of Cambridge.
Selwyn became Solicitor-General in Lord Derby
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, KG, PC was an English statesman, three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and to date the longest serving leader of the Conservative Party. He was known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley...
's last administration on 18 July 1867, and was knighted on 3 August. Benjamin Disraeli appointed him a Lord Justice of Appeal
Lord Justice of Appeal
A Lord Justice of Appeal is an ordinary judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, and represents the second highest level of judge in the courts of England and Wales-Appointment:...
on 8 February 1868, and he was named a Privy Counsellor
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
on 28 March.
Family
Selwyn married, first, in 1856, Hester, fifth daughter of J. G. Ravenshaw, chairman of the East India Company, and widow of Thomas Dowler, M.D. He married, secondly, on 2 April 1869, Catherine Rosalie, daughter of Colonel Godfrey T. Greene, Royal EngineersRoyal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
, and widow of the Reverend Henry Dupuis, vicar of Richmond. He had a son and two daughters. Selwyn, in conjunction with L. F. Selwyn, wrote in 1847 Annals of the Diocese of New Zealand. He died at Pagoda House, Richmond, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, on 11 August 1869, aged 55, and was buried in Nunhead Cemetery
Nunhead Cemetery
Nunhead Cemetery is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries in London, England. It is perhaps the least famous and celebrated of them.. The cemetery is located in the Nunhead area of southern London and was originally known as All Saints' Cemetery. Nunhead Cemetery was consecrated in 1840 and...
.