Constituency : York 1885-97
Frank was the other Liberal victor in York.
Frank was a draughtsman's son from Doncaster. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Cambridge. He became a successful barrister. In 1880 he was a member of the Royal Commission looking at corrupt practices in Chester. That year he stood for election in King's Lynn. In January 1883 he had to contradict a newspaper report that he was going to stand for Sunderland as a Tory ; later that year he contested the York by-election of 1883 and was defeated by 21 votes. Salisbury claimed that in supporting Ireland being given the same parliamentary franchise and local institutions as the rest of the country Frank had bought the Irish vote and sold the integrity of the country.
Frank believed the Irish vote had secured his victory in 1886. He was kissed by a big dirty Irishman during the campaign. He had misgivings about the Home Rule Bill but voted for its second reading in the hope that the exclusion of Irish members from Westminster could be dropped at a later stage.
Frank was an infrequent speaker in the House believing that his work at the Bar prevented him from being knowledgeable enough to speak on many questions.
Frank supported the death penalty in cases where malice aforethought had been proved , maintaining that it was a deterrent.
In 1894 Frank became solicitor-general in Rosebery's government. In 1895 he led for the crown in Regina v Wilde , reluctantly but judging that the case had become too politicised to be dropped.
In 1896 Frank went to the USA to attend a meeting of the American Bar Association as a guest speaker and furthered his reputation as a humorous after-dinner speaker.
Frank was also a skilled cartoonist . He had an exhibition in 1889 and his work featured in Punch from 1893 to his death.
He died in 1897 aged 51. A sketch-book of his drawings was published the following year.
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