864 Charles Russell

Constituency : Dundalk 1880-85  , Hackney  South  1885-94

Charles  defeated  the  defector  Philip  Callan , forcing  him  to  switch seats  to  Louth,  in  a  rare  example  of  the  Liberals  recapturing  a  seat  from  the  Home  Rule  League. However  Charles  owed  his  election  to  the  support  of  Parnell  who  disliked  Callan  for  his  closeness  to  Butt  and  let  it  be  known  that  he  was  supporting  Charles,  a  move  criticised  by  other  Nationalists. Charles  actually  knocked  Callan  over  at  the  hustings.

Charles  came  from  a  Catholic  family. His  father  owned  a  brewery. He  was  educated  in Ireland  and  became  a  solicitor  in  1854  with  a  Catholic  client  base. His  friends  urged  him  to  go  to  London  and  train  as  a  barrister.  He  was  admitted in  1859  and  became  hugely  successful, the  George  Carman  of  his  day. He  contested  Dundalk  in  1868  and  1874.

Charles  came  to  favour  Home  Rule  and  wrote  a  column  for  the  Nationalist  journal  The  Nation.  In  1882  he  said  "the  government  of  Ireland  must  rest  mainly  with  the  Irish  people  and  that  before  the  Irish  people  could  be  expected  in  their  utterances  and  their  public  acts  to  show  a  due  sense  of  responsibility, they  must  have  the  power  which  brings  with  it  a  sense  of  responsibility". Parnell  was  a  friend. In  1883  he  defended  the  murderer  of  the  phoenix  Park  informant  O'Donnell.

In  1885  Charles  sought  a  constituency  in  England  and  chose  Hackney  South  over  Liverpool  Exchange.

In  1886  Charles  was  knighted  and  appointed  Attorney-General  by  Gladstone.

In  1888-89  Charles  represented  Parnell  at  the  Parnell  Commission  hearings  and  demolished  The  Times  and  the  forger  Richard  Pigott  on  the  stand  which  secured  a  favourable  verdict. In  1889  he  spoke  for  the  Liberal  candidate  at  a  by-election  in  Eccles.

In  1892  Charles  resumed  as  Attorney-General  and  represented  the  UK  in  the  Bering  Sea  Arbitration  in  1893.

In  1894  Charles  was  made  a  Lord  of  Appeal  and  given  a life  peerage. He  was  quickly  appointed  Lord  Chief  Justice, the  first  Catholic  in  the  post  for  centuries. In  1899  he  represented Britain  in  the  Venezuelan boundary  arbitration.

In  1900  he  was  taken  ill  and  died  aged  67.