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HERSCHELL, FARRER HERSCHELL, 1ST BARO...

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 397 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HERSCHELL, See also:FARRER HERSCHELL, 1ST See also:BARON (1837-1899) , See also:lord See also:chancellor of See also:England, was See also:born on the 2nd of See also:November 1837. His See also:father was the Rev. See also:Ridley Haim Herschell, a native of Strzelno, in Prussian See also:Poland, who, when a See also:young See also:man, exchanged the Jewish faith for See also:Christianity, took a leading See also:part in See also:founding the See also:British Society for the See also:Propagation of the See also:Gospel among the See also:Jews, and, after many journeyings, settled down to the See also:charge of a See also:Nonconformist See also:chapel near the Edgware Road, in See also:London, where he ministered to a large See also:congregation. His See also:mother was a daughter of See also:William See also:Mowbray, a See also:merchant of See also:Leith. He was educated at a private school and at University See also:College, London. In 1857 he took his B.A. degree at the University of London. He was reckoned the best See also:speaker in the school debating society, and he displayed there the same command of See also:language and lucidity of thought which were his characteristics during his See also:official See also:life. The reputation which Herschell enjoyed during his school days was maintained after he became a See also:law-student at See also:Lincoln's See also:Inn. In 1858 he entered the See also:chambers of See also:Thomas See also:Chitty, the famous See also:common law pleader, father of the See also:late Lord See also:Justice Chitty. His See also:fellow pupils, amongst whom were A. L. See also:Smith, afterwards See also:master of the rolls, and See also:Arthur See also:Charles, afterwards See also:judge of the See also:queen's See also:bench See also:division, gave him the See also:sobriquet of " the See also:chief baron" in recognition of his superiority.

He subsequently read with See also:

James See also:Hannen, after-wards Lord Hannen. In 1860 he was called to the See also:bar and joined the See also:northern See also:circuit, then in its palmy days of undividedness. For four or five years he did not obtain much See also:work. Fortunately, he was never a poor man, and so was not forced into journalism, or other paths of literature, in See also:order to See also:earn a living. Two of his contemporaries, each of whom achieved See also:great See also:eminence, found themselves in like See also:case, One of these, Charles See also:Russell, became lord chief justice of England; the other, William See also:Court See also:Gully, speaker of the See also:House of See also:Commons. It is said that these three See also:friends, dining together during a See also:Liverpool See also:assize some years after they had been called, agreed that their prospects were anything but cheerful. Certain it is that about this See also:time Herschell meditated quitting England for See also:Shanghai and practising in the consular courts there. Herschell, however, soon made himself useful to See also:Edward James, the then See also:leader of the northern circuit, and to See also:John See also:Richard See also:Quain, the leading stuff-gownsman. For the latter he was content to See also:note briefs and draft opinions, and when, in 1866, Quain donned "See also:silk," it was on Herschell that a large portion of his See also:mantle descended. In 1872 Herschell was made a queen's counsel. He had all the necessary qualifications for a leader—a clear, though not resonant See also:voice; a See also:calm, logical mind; a See also:sound knowledge of legal principles; and (greatest See also:gift of all) an abundance of common sense. He never wearied the See also:judges by arguing at undue length, and he knew how to retire with dignity from a hopeless cause.

His only weak point was See also:

cross-examination. In handling a hostile See also:witness he had neither the insidious persuasiveness of a See also:Hawkins nor the compelling, dominating See also:power of a Russell. But he made up for all by his speech to the See also:jury, marshalling such facts as told in his client's favour with the most consummate skill. He very seldom made use of notes, but trusted to his memory, which he had carefully trained. By this means he was able to conceal his See also:art, and to appear less as a paid 'See also:advocate than as an outsider interested in the case anxious to assist the jury in arriving at the truth. By 1874 Herschell's business had become so See also:good that he turned his thoughts to See also:parliament. In See also:February of that See also:year there was a See also:general See also:election, with the result tliat.the Conservative party came into power with a See also:majority of fifty. The usual See also:crop of petitions followed. The two Radicals (See also:Thompson and See also:Henderson) who had been returned for See also:Durham See also:city were unseated, and an attack was then made on the seats of two other Radicals (See also:Bell and See also:Palmer) who had been returned fbr Durham See also:county. For one of these last Herschell was briefed. He made so excellent an impression on the See also:local See also:Radical leaders that they asked him to stand for Durham city; and after a fortnight's electioneering, he was elected as junior member. Between 1874 and 188o Herschell was most assiduous in his attendance in the House of Commons.

He was not a frequent speaker, but a few great efforts sufficed in his case to gain for him a reputation as a royal commissions, one on See also:

Indian currency, the other on vaccinadebater. The best examples of his See also:style as a private member will be found in See also:Hansard under the See also:dates 18th February 1876, 23rd May 1878, 6th May 1899, On the last occasion he carried a See also:resolution in favour of abolishing actions for See also:breach of promise of See also:marriage except when actual pecuniary loss had ensued, the See also:damages in such cases to be measured by the amount of such loss. The See also:grace of manner and solid reasoning with which he acquitted himself during these displays obtained for him the See also:notice of See also:Gladstone, who in 188o appointed Herschell See also:solicitor-general. Herschell's public services from 188o to 1885 were of great value, particularly in dealing with the " cases for See also:opinion " submitted by the See also:Foreign See also:Office and other departments. He was also very helpful in speeding See also:government See also:measures through the House, notably the Irish See also:Land See also:Act 1881, the Corrupt Practices and See also:Bankruptcy Acts 1883, the County See also:Franchise Act 1884 and the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. This last was a See also:bitter pill for Herschell, since it halved the See also:representation of Durham city, and so gave him statutory notice to quit. Reckoning on the local support of the See also:Cavendish See also:family, he contested the See also:North See also:Lonsdale division of See also:Lancashire; but in spite of the powerful See also:influence of Lord Hartington, he was badly beaten at the See also:poll, though Mr Gladstone again obtained a majority in the See also:country. Herschell now thought he saw the solicitor-generalship slipping away from him, and along with it all prospect of high promotion. Lord See also:Selborne and See also:Sir See also:Henry James, however, successively declined Gladstone's offer of the See also:Woolsack, and in 1886 Herschell, by a sudden turn of See also:fortune's See also:wheel, found himself in his See also:forty-ninth year lord chancellor. Herschell's chancellorship lasted barely six months, for in See also:August 1886 Gladstone's See also:Home See also:Rule See also:Bill was rejected in the Commons and his See also:administration See also:fell. In August 1892, when Gladstone returned to power, Herschell again became lord chancellor. In See also:September 1893, when the second Home Rule Bill came on for second See also:reading in the House of Lords, Herschell took See also:advantage of the opportunity to justify the " sudden See also:con-version" to Home Rule of himself and his colleagues in 1885 by comparing it to the See also:duke of See also:Wellington's See also:conversion to See also:Catholic Emancipation in 1829 and to that of Sir See also:Robert See also:Peel to See also:Free See also:Trade in 1846.

In 1895, however, his second chancellorship came to an end with the defeat of the See also:

Rosebery See also:ministry. Whether sitting at the royal courts in the Strand, on the judicial See also:committee of the privy See also:council, or in the House of Lords, Lord Herschell's judgments were distinguished for their acute and subtle reasoning, for their grasp of legal principles, and, whenever the occasion arose, for their broad treatment of constitutional and social questions. He was not a profound lawyer, but his quickness of See also:apprehension was such that it was an excellent substitute for great learning. In construing a real See also:property will or any other document, his first impulse was to read it by the See also:light of nature, and to decline to be influenced by the construction put by the judges oh similar phrases occurring elsewhere. But when he discovered that certain expressions had acquired a technical meaning which could not be disturbed with-out fluttering the dovecotes of the conveyancers, he would yield to the established rule, even though he did not agree with it. He was perhaps seen at his judicial best in Vagliano v. See also:Bank of England (1891) and See also:Allen v. See also:Flood (1898). Latterly he showed a tendency, which seems to grow on some judges, to interrupt counsel overmuch. The case last mentioned furnishes an example of this. The question involved was what constituted a molestation of a man in the pursuit of his lawful calling. At the See also:close of the See also:argument of counsel, whom he had frequently interrupted, one of their lordships, noted for his See also:pretty wit, observed that although there might be a doubt as to what amounted to such molestation in point of law, the House could well understand, after that See also:day's proceedings, what it was in actual practice.

In addition to his See also:

political and judicial work, Herschell rendered many public services. In 1888 he presided over an inquiry directed by the House of Commons with regard to the See also:Metropolitan See also:Board of See also:Works. He acted as chairman of two tion. He took a great See also:interest in the See also:National Society for the Prevention of See also:Cruelty to See also:Children, not only promoting the acts of 1889 and 1894, but also bestowing a good See also:deal of time in sifting the truth of certain allegations which had been brought against the management of that society. In See also:June 1893 he was appointed chancellor of the university of London in See also:succession to the See also:earl of See also:Derby, and he entered on his new duties with the usual thoroughness. " His views of reform," according to See also:Victor Dicins, the accomplished registrar of the university, " were always most liberal and most frankly stated, though at first they were not altogether popular with an important See also:section of university opinion. He disarmed opposition by his intellectual power, rather than conciliated it by See also:compromise, and sometimes was perhaps a little masterful, after a See also:fashion of his own, in his treatment of the various burning questions that agitated the university during his See also:tenure of office. His characteristic power of detachment was well illustrated by his treatment of the proposal to remove the university to the site of the Imperial See also:Institute at See also:South See also:Kensington. Although he was at that time chairman of the Institute, the most irreconcilable opponent of the removal never questioned his See also:absolute impartiality." With the Imperial Institute Herschell had been officially connected from its inception. He was chairman of the provisional committee appointed by the See also:prince of See also:Wales to formulate a See also:scheme for its organization, and he took an active part in the preparation of its See also:charter and constitution in See also:conjunction with Lord See also:Thring, Lord James, Sir See also:Frederick See also:Abel and Mr John Hollams. He was the first chairman of its council, and, except during his tour in See also:India in 1888, when he brought the Institute under the notice of the Indian authorities, he was hardly absent from a single See also:meeting. For his See also:special services in this connexion he was made G.C.B. in 1893, this being the only instance of a lord chancellor being decorated with an order.

In 1897 he was appointed, jointly with Lord Justice See also:

Collins, to represent Great See also:Britain on the See also:Venezuela Boundary See also:Commission, which assembled in See also:Paris in the See also:spring of 1899. So complicated a business involved a great deal of preparation and a careful study of maps and historic documents. Not content with this, he accepted in 1898 a seat on the See also:joint high commission appointed to adjust certain boundary and other important questions pending between Great Britain and See also:Canada on the one See also:hand and the See also:United States on the other hand. He started for See also:America in See also:July of that year, and was received most cordially at See also:Washington. His fellow commissioners elected him their See also:president. In February 1899, while the commission was in full See also:swing, he had the misfortune to slip in the See also:street and in falling to fracture a See also:hip See also:bone. His constitution, which at one time was a robust one, had been undermined by See also:constant hard work, and proved unequal to sustaining the See also:shock. On the 1st of See also:March, only a fortnight after the See also:accident, he died at the See also:Shoreham Hotel, Washington, a See also:post-mortem examination revealing disease of the See also:heart. Mr See also:Hay, secretary of See also:state, at once telegraphed to Mr See also:Choate, the United States See also:ambassador in London, the "deep sorrow" See also:felt by President See also:McKinley; and Sir Wilfred See also:Laurier said the next day, in the parliament chamber at See also:Ottawa, that he regarded Herschell's See also:death " as a misfortune to Canada and to the British See also:Empire." A funeral service held in St John's Episcopal See also:Church, Washington, was attended by the president and See also:vice-president of the United States, by the See also:cabinet ministers, the judges of the Supreme Court, the members of the joint high commission, and a large number of senators and other representative men. The See also:body was brought to London in a British man-of-See also:war, and a second funeral service was held in See also:Westminster See also:Abbey before it was conveyed to its final resting-See also:place at Tincleton, See also:Dorset, in the See also:parish church of which he had been married. Herschell See also:left a widow, granddaughter of Vice-Chancellor Kindersley; a son, Richard Farrer (b. 1878), who succeeded him as second baron ; and two daughters.

A " See also:

reminiscence " of Herschell by Mr Speaker Gully (Lord See also:Selby) will be found in The Law Quarterly See also:Review for See also:April 1899. The See also:Journal of the Society of See also:Comparative Legislation (of which he had been president from its formation in '893) contains, in its part for July of the same year, notices of him by Lord James of See also:Hereford, Lord Davey, Mr Victor See also:Williamson (his executor and intimate friend), and also by Mr Justice D. J. See also:Brewer and Senator C. W. See also:Fairbanks (both of the United States). (M. H.

End of Article: HERSCHELL, FARRER HERSCHELL, 1ST BARON (1837-1899)

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