788 Charles Hopwood

Constituency : Stockport  1874-85,  Middleton 1892-5

Charles  took  back  the  second  seat  at  Stockport  from  the  Tories.

Charles  was  a   barrister  educated  at  King's  College, London. His  mother  was  born  in  Dublin.

Charles  supported  Home  Rule. He  criticised  the  House  of  Lords  as  a  court  of  appeal. He  was  a  frequent  speaker  in  the House  on  legal  matters. He  was  a  penal  reformer  and  a  founder  of  the  Romilly  Society. He  was  concerned  about  miscarriages  of  justice  and  argued  for  a  ourt  of  Criminal  Appeal  writing  frequent  letters  to  the  press  on  the  topic. He  was  also  an  opponent  of  the  Contagious  Diseases  Act  and  a  supporter  of  female  suffrage.

In  1885  Charles  opposed  the  Criminal  Law  Amendment  Act  raising  the  age  of  consent  to  16  saying  "repressive  legislation  of  this  kind  is  not  calculated  to  improve  public  morals". He  also  opposed  the  outlawing  of  brothels : "these  poor  girls  would  be  hunted  and  chased  about  by  the  police ... They  would  be  at  the  mercy  of  their  landlords  and  landladies , who  would  naturally  charge  increased  rents , to  reimburse  themselves  for  the  risks  run".

Charles  also  tried  persistently  to  introduce  a  bill  giving  married  women  more  control  over  the  family  purse.    

Charles became  the  Recorder  of  Liverpool  in  1886.

Charles  won  the Middleton  seat  by  just  116  votes  in  1892 but  the  Tory  regained  the  seat  in  1895.

He  died  in  1904  aged  75.