Constituency : Wolverhampton 1835-85, Wolverhampton South 1885-98 ( 1886-98 as Liberal Unionist )
Charles is still the record holder for longest-serving MP with 63 years unbroken service.
Charles was the brother of the Earl of Clarendon. He went to Cambridge and became a barrister. He was a Benthamite and in 1832 became a Poor Law Commissioner. He was first elected in 1835. From 1837 onwards he became famous for his relentless attempts to abolish the Corn Laws, speaking in Manchester in 1838 before Cobden and Bright had become active. In 1840 he got himself onto the Committee for Import Duties which produced a report much utilised by the Anti-Corn Law League. Francis Monckton Milnes described him as the "solitary Robinson Crusoe standing on the barren rock of Corn Law repeal". He was of course eventually vindicated but declined David Ricardo's suggestion of a public subscription to recognise his work. In 1847 he was also elected for Lancashire South as a gesture of gratitude. In 1852 he tried to get a full-blooded Free Trade amendment passed when the Tories abandoned their commitment to protection.The Corn Laws gave Charles the reputation of a Radical despite his impeccable Whig credentials , which in other respects he hardly merited. On the Crimean War he told Bright he wasn't sure that it was justified but could not be allowed to end in a way "that is disgraceful or thought to be so by the people". After the peace he thought Palmerston was in for life . He was also very lukewarm about further parliamentary reform.Russell seems to have ignored his claims for office but Aberdeen made him Judge Advocate General and he continued to hold the position under Palmerston until 1858. In the 1857 election campaign he told his constituents that "Lord Palmerston was not quite the man that a Liberal or Reformer would desire, but he was the best man that could be found"
When Palmerston returned to power in 1859 Charles was appointed President of the Poor Law Board with a seat in the Cabinet. He was criticised for not checking the anti- Catholic bias of poor law guardians after a Commons inquiry found they were not observing the statutory safeguards on religion. He also had to deal with the effects of the Lancashire cotton famine. As Charles was a friend of both Disraeli and Bright he was a useful channel of communication for the prime minister. Charles tried to assure Bright of the government's sincerity on the 1860 Reform Bill pointing out that middle class discontent was not what Bright wanted it to be - "the social relations between classes are more than usually friendly" and pointedly asking him for "your real and calmly considered views" on reform. Palmerston did not always act on his advice , rejecting, for example, his suggestion of the radical MP Edwin James for solicitor-general. Charles disliked Cobden's commercial treaty but acquiesced in it , Bright describing him as "desperately and absurdly anti-French". In turn Charles told him he was "ludicrously malignant" in accusing Palmerston of war-mongering over the Trent affair He remained in place under Russell.
In 1875 it was Charles that proposed Hartington for the party leadership.
In 1885 he declined a peerage and sat for the new seat of Wolverhampton South retaining it as a Liberal Unionist in 1886. In 1890 he became Father of the House on the death of Christopher Talbot and was the last remaining MP to have served under William IV. He retained the seat in 1892 and 1895 but did not actually attend the Commons again after the latter triumph.
He died in 1898 aged 96.
No comments:
Post a Comment