Charles Lysaght (born 23 September 1941) is an Irish lawyer, biographer, and occasional columnist.

Legal career

Lysaght was born in Dublin on 23 September 1941. He was educated at

St Michael's College, Dublin St Michael's College ( ga, Coláiste Naomh Mícheál) is a voluntary Catholic boys' school, with an associated primary school, located on Ailesbury Road in Dublin 4, Ireland. Founded in 1944 by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (The Spirita ...

and

Gonzaga College Gonzaga College SJ is a voluntary Catholic boys' secondary school in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1950, Gonzaga College is under the trusteeship of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), one of five Jesuit secondary schools in Ir ...

. He read law and economics at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

(M.A), and at Christ's College, Cambridge (M.Litt). He qualified as a barrister at the King's Inns, Dublin, and then at Lincoln's Inn, London. A keen student debater he won the inaugural

Irish Times Debate The Irish Times National Debating Championship is a debating competition for students in higher education in Ireland. It has been run since 1960, sponsored by ''The Irish Times''. While most participants represent institutions in the Republic of ...

for university debating (1960-1) and the gold medal of the Literary and Historical Society in University College Dublin (1961-2). He was elected auditor of the law students debating society of Ireland, King's Inns (1961-2) and president of The Cambridge Union (Easter term 1964), defeating

Vince Cable Sir John Vincent Cable (born 9 May 1943) is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019. He also served in the Cabinet as ...

by a large majority. Between 1967 and 1970 he lectured in law at King's College London and

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

while practising at the Bar. He was part-time professor of law at King's Inns (where he was an honorary bencher) from 1970 to 1975 and joined the Irish

Department of External Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

as a legal adviser in 1970 moving to the Irish Law Reform Commission for 10 years in 1978. From 1981 until 2009, he served on the board of the Irish Civil Service Building Society. Subsequently, he was a member of an Irish government committee on EU Fisheries Policy chaired by Dr T. K. Whitaker and a member of the Advisory Board of the

National Archives of Ireland The National Archives of Ireland ( ga, Cartlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the official repository for the state records of Ireland. Established by the National Archives Act 1986, taking over the functions of the State Paper Office (founded 17 ...

Personal

A keen cricketer, he played for Pembroke Cricket Club,

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the ...

, the Cambridge Crusaders, the Refreshers and the Leprechauns, a nomadic club of which he was president in 1998, its 50 anniversary year. He was first chairman of the Cambridge Society Irish branch and is now chairman of the Oxford and Cambridge Society of Ireland. He married Alyson Gavin, genealogist, in 2019.

Bibliography

* Administration of Justice in Ireland (1975) by VTH Delany; edited by Charles Lysaght * Brendan Bracken Allen Lane, London (1979) Churchill's faithful Chela
* Edward MacLysaght, 1887-1986: A memoir (1988) * Great Irish Lives: a book of Times obituaries edited by Charles Lysaght (Harper Collins 2008 2nd ed 2016) Lysaght has also written articles for learned journals on law and contributed entries to the Dictionary of Irish Biography. He has written forewords to several books and contributes obituaries, articles and book reviews to newspapers and other journals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lysaght, Charles Irish legal scholars Academics of King's College London Academics of University College London Living people Irish non-fiction writers Irish male non-fiction writers 20th-century Irish lawyers People educated at Gonzaga College Alumni of University College Dublin Alumni of the University of Cambridge People educated at St Michael's College, Dublin Presidents of the Cambridge Union Alumni of King's Inns 1941 births

Legal career

Personal

Bibliography

See also

References