Henry Matthews, 1st Viscount Llandaff, (13 January 1826 – 3 April 1913) was a British lawyer and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

politician. He is best remembered for his role in the 1885

Sir Charles Dilke Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 2nd Baronet, PC (4 September 1843 – 26 January 1911) was an English Liberal and Radical politician. A republican in the early 1870s, he later became a leader in the radical challenge to Whig control of the Libe ...

divorce trial and for his tenure as

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all nationa ...

from 1886 to 1892.

Background and education

The member of an old

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family, Matthews was born in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, where his father, Henry Matthews (1789–1828), was a puisne judge of the Supreme Court. His grandfather John Matthews had represented

in Parliament in the early years of the 19th century. His mother was Emma (d. 1861), daughter of William Blount. Matthews was educated at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, graduating in 1844, before going on to study at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

, from which he graduated successively BA and LLB.

Legal career

Matthews was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

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, in 1850 and practised on the Oxford circuit before becoming secretary to the

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in 1864, a position he held for five years. He was made a

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in 1868. At the bar, Matthews made a good name for himself, being especially noted for examination of witnesses. Most famous was his 1885 cross examination of

in a sensational divorce case, which essentially destroyed Dilke's political career and launched that of Matthews.

Political career

In 1868 Matthews was elected

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for

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. He described himself as an 'Independent Liberal and Conservative'. He was a

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and supported the

disestablishment The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular s ...

of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the sec ...

and was vaguely sympathetic to the Home Rule movement, but this could not prevent his defeat by a Home Rule candidate in the 1874 General Election. He then revised his views on politics and revived his political career as a Conservative in Britain, but in the circumstances of the struggle over Gladstone's Home Rule Bill, his previous position meant that he was distrusted by strong Unionists. He returned to

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as Conservative member for Birmingham East in 1886, and was immediately appointed as

in Lord Salisbury's second government.

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

reportedly demanded his inclusion after his performance in the Sir Charles Dilke divorce trial, which she approved of. He was sworn of the

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at the same time. Matthews' tenure of the office was notable more for its administrative success than for political achievement. He was thought 'too clever' and his aloof and 'somewhat foreign' manner made it difficult for him to command the House of Commons. In 1887, he gave a seemingly flippant response in the House to a genuine question about the mistaken arrest of Miss Cass, who was accused of

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, which resulted in the government's defeat on the issue. Despite his personal opposition to

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

Matthews was criticised for allowing

Israel Lipski Israel Lipski (born Israel Lobulsk; 1865 – 22 August 1887) was a convicted murderer of Polish-Jewish descent living in the East End of London. Lipski worked as an umbrella stick salesman, employing Harry Schmuss and Henry Rosenbloom. The serie ...

to hang. He was Home Secretary throughout the Whitechapel Murders of 1888 to 1891, some of which are attributed to

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer wa ...

. Matthews continued as Home Secretary until the Liberals returned to power in 1892. When the Conservatives took power again in 1895, Victoria was again keen for him to take office but opposition within the Conservative Party prevented it. Instead he was ennobled as Viscount Llandaff of

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

in the County of

. He was closely associated with the campaign which resulted in the building of

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of ...

Personal life

Matthews inherited property from several relatives, which left him financially independent. Indeed, upon his death his estate was valued at almost £260,000. He died unmarried in 1913 at the age of 87 at his

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

home and was buried at Clehonger, Herefordshire, near Belmont Abbey. The viscountcy died with him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Llandaff, Henry Matthews, 1st Viscount 1826 births 1913 deaths British Secretaries of State Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Alumni of the University of London Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Irish Conservative Party MPs Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs who were granted peerages Sri Lankan people of English descent People of British Ceylon Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Waterford constituencies (1801–1922) Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria