Charles Darling, 1st Baron Darling
PC | |
---|---|
1st Life Peerage 12 January 1924 – 28 May 1936 | |
Personal details | |
Born | 6 December 1849 Abbey House, Colchester, UK |
Died | 29 May 1936 Lymington, Hampshire, UK |
Political party | Conservative Party |
Charles John Darling, 1st Baron Darling,
Early life and career
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2023) |
Darling was born in Abbey House in
After unsuccessfully contesting Hackney South as a Conservative in 1885 and 1886, Darling was returned for Deptford in a by-election in 1888, defeating Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, and held the seat until his elevation to the bench in 1897.[1]
His time in the House of Commons was said to be undistinguished.[1] He mainly spoke on legal issues and Irish Home Rule,[1] and was said to never have entered the important House of Commons Smoking Room on grounds that he did not smoke.
In 1896, Darling was appointed
Judicial career
Darling was appointed a Justice of the High Court in 1897,[1] and received the customary knighthood. The appointment had been made at the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor Lord Halsbury, who was known to let political considerations influence his choice of judges, and was widely condemned as political. The Times commented that although he possessed "acute intellect and considerable literary power", he had given "no sign of legal eminence".[1]
Assigned to the
He was known for his erudition and at times inappropriate wit,
During the Billing trial one of the witnesses, Eileen Villiers-Stuart, claimed to have seen the mysterious "Black Book" in which the names of the "perverts" were listed, declared in court that Darling was one of them. She was later convicted of bigamy, and admitted that her testimony was invented.[6]
During the First World War,
He retired from the bench in 1923, and was created Baron Darling, of
Family
Darling married Mary Caroline Greathed (d. 1913) on 16 September 1885.
Arms
|
References
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32714. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Moulton, H. Fletcher, ed. (1922). Trial of Steine Morrison. Notable British trials. London: W. Hodge & Co.
- ^ Sharpe, May Churchill (1928). Chicago May: Her Story. New York: Macaulay Co.
- ^ Darling, Charles J. (1877). Scintillae Juris (2nd ed.). London: Davis & Son.
- ^ Philips, F. C. (1914). My Varied Life. London: E. Nash. p. 271.
- ^ Andrew, Christopher, Secret Service: The Making of the British Intelligence Community, (1985)
- ^ "No. 32898". The London Gazette. 15 January 1924. p. 459.
- ^ Burke's Peerage. 1959.
Bibliography
- Peter James Rainton and Peerage. com.
- Smith, Derek Walter, "The Life of Charles Darling", Cassell & Co, London (1938).
- Simpson, A.W.B., "A Biographical Dictionary of the Common Law", Butterworths, London, 1984, p 143.
- Hoare, Philip, "Wilde's Last Stand", Duckworth Overlook, London 1997, 2011, pp 112–181, 217-218 (concerning the Pemberton Billing trial).
- Gilbert, Michael (ed), "The Oxford Book of Legal Anecdotes", OUP, Oxford, 1986, pp 91–97.