1365 John Bigham

Constituency : Liverpool  Exchange  1895-7  ( Liberal  Unionist ) 

John  took   highly  marginal   Liverpool  Exchange  for  the  Liberal  Unionists  after  Ralph  Neville  had  stood  down.

John  was  the  son  of  a  wealthy  merchant  in  the  city. He  was  educated  at  the  Liverpool Institute  High  School  for  Boys  and  the  University  of  London. He  became  a  successful barrister  practising  commercial  law  in  the  city. In  1885  he  contested  East  Toxteth  as  a Liberal. He  joined  the  Liberal  Unionists  and  in  1892  contested  Liverpool  Exchange  against Ralph  Neville, losing  by  66  votes.

John's  only  real  contribution  in  the  Commons  was  a  long  speech  in  1897 refuting  the  idea  that  Ireland  was  hard  done  by  in  the  financial  arrangements  of  the  Union.

In  1897  John  became  a  judge  an  had  to  give  up  his  seat. He  was  knighted. He  presided  over  the  railway  and  canal  commission  of  1904, worked  in  the  bankruptcy  courts  and  reviewed  court  martials  in  the  Boer  War.  He  became  president  of  the  Probate, Divorce  and  Admiralty  Division  in  1909  but  didn't  like  it  and  retired  the  following  year.  He  was  created  Baron  Mersey.

In  1912  Lord  Chancellor  Loreburn  appointed  John to  head  the  inquiry  into  the  sinking  of  the  Titanic. Some  writers  have  accused  him  of  being  too  soft  on  the  ship  owners  but  the  general  consensus  is  that  the  findings  were  evenhanded. He  headed  further  inquiries  into  the  sinkings  of  the  Empress  of  Ireland  and  the  Lusitania.

John  was  upgraded  to  a  viscount  in  1916.

John  was  deaf  in  his  later  years  but  he  returned  to  the  bench  in  the  1920s  to  clear  a  backlog  of  divorce  cases.

He  died  in  1929  aged  89.