Charles Edward Mathews (4 January 1834 – 20 October 1905) was an English mountaineer, a leading member of the

Alpine Club The first alpine club, the Alpine Club, based in the United Kingdom, was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club. It was once described as: :"a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the Alps, members of whi ...

and writer on mountaineering. In his professional career as solicitor he was active in public affairs in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

Life

Mathews was born in

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it ha ...

, the third of six sons of Jeremiah Mathews, a Worcestershire land agent, and his wife Mary Guest. Of his five brothers, the eldest, William Mathews (1828–1901) was one of the leading pioneers of Alpine exploration and was president of the

from 1869 to 1871. The fourth brother, George Spencer Mathews (1836–1904), was also a noted mountaineer. Both brothers were prominent figures in municipal and social life in

Professional career

Mathews was educated at

King Charles I School King Charles I School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in the town of Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. Present day and Ofsted King Charles I School is a specialist science college, and renewed their specialist ...

, Kidderminster, served his articles in Birmingham and London from 1851, and was admitted solicitor in 1856. He practised in Birmingham, acted as solicitor to the Birmingham School Board throughout its existence, and as

Clerk of the Peace A clerk of the peace held an office in England and Wales whose responsibility was the records of the quarter sessions and the framing of presentments and indictments. They had legal training, so that they could advise justices of the peace. Histo ...

from 1891 till his death. He was a member of the town council from 1875 to 1881 and for nearly fifty years exerted much influence on the public and social affairs of Birmingham. One of the founders and subsequently chairman of the parliamentary committee of the

National Education League The National Education League was a political movement in England and Wales which promoted elementary education for all children, free from religious control. The National Education League, founded 1869, developed from the Birmingham Education Lea ...

, he founded in 1864 the

Birmingham Children's Hospital Birmingham Children's Hospital is a specialist children's hospital located in Birmingham, England. The hospital provides a range of specialist services and operates the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for the city. The servi ...

, in conjunction with Thomas Pretious Heslop, and took part for many years in its management; he set on foot the agitation which led to the reorganisation of King Edward's School, and served as a governor of the school from its reconstitution in 1878 till his death; a lifelong friend of

Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the C ...

, he was from 1886 one of the local leaders of the Liberal Unionist Party.

Mountaineering

He was introduced to

the Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

in 1856 by his brother William, with whom the idea of forming the

originated; and the foundation of the club was definitely decided upon in November 1857 by the two brothers, a cousin, Benjamin Attwood Mathews, and

Edward Shirley Kennedy Edward Shirley Kennedy (usually known as E. S. Kennedy) (1817–1898) was an English mountaineer and author, and a founding member of the Alpine Club. Early life Kennedy was a gentleman of independent means, who attended Caius College, Cambridg ...

; the last, aided by

Thomas Woodbine Hinchliff Thomas Woodbine Hinchliff (5 December 1825 – 8 May 1882) was an English mountaineer, traveller, and author, from 1875 to 1877 the seventh President of the Alpine Club. After qualifying as a barrister, Hinchliff abandoned the law and took to a ...

, taking the leading share in its actual formation (December 1857 to January 1858). Mathews played his part in the conquest of the Alps which followed during the succeeding decade, and he continued to climb vigorously for more than forty years, long after all the other original members of the Alpine Club had retired from serious mountaineering. He was president of the club from 1878 to 1880, and took a prominent part in its affairs until the last year of his life. He was also one of the founders (1898) and the first president of the

Climbers' Club The Climbers' Club is the senior rock-climbing club in England and Wales (outside the Lake District). The club was founded in 1898. The CC one of the largest publishers of climbing guidebooks in many of the main climbing areas of England and Wal ...

, an association formed with the object of encouraging mountaineering in England and Ireland. He died in

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...

on 20 October 1905, and was buried at Sutton Coldfield. Mathews married in 1860 Elizabeth Agnes Blyth, and had two sons and two daughters.

Writings

Besides numerous papers in the ''

Alpine Journal The ''Alpine Journal'' (''AJ'') is an annual publication by the Alpine Club of London. It is the oldest mountaineering journal in the world. History The magazine was first published on 2 March 1863 by the publishing house of Longman in London ...

'' (volumes i–xxii) Mathews contributed articles about the guides

Melchior Anderegg Melchior Anderegg (28 March 1828 – 8 December 1914), from Zaun, Meiringen, was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascensionist of many prominent mountains in the western Alps during the golden and silver ages of alpinism. His clients were mo ...

and

Jakob Anderegg Jakob Anderegg (11 March 1829, in Oberwil im Simmental – 17 September 1878, in Meiringen) was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascensionist of many prominent mountains in the western Alps during the golden and silver ages of alp ...

to ''Pioneers of the Alps'' (1887), and a retrospective chapter to C. T. Dent's ''Mountaineering'' in the ''

Badminton Library The ''Badminton Library'', called in full ''The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes'', was a sporting and publishing project conceived by Longmans Green & Co. and edited by Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort (1824–1899). Between 1885 a ...

'' (1892); but his most important work in Alpine literature is ''The Annals of Mont Blanc'' (1898), an exhaustive monograph, containing a critical analysis of tho original narratives of the early ascents of tho mountain, and a history and description of all the later routes by which its summit has been reached. Mathews himself climbed it at least twelve times.

References

Attribution *

External links