John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

John Charles Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey, (3 August 1840 – 3 September 1929) was a British jurist and politician. After early success as a lawyer and a less successful spell as a politician, he was appointed a judge and worked in commercial law. After his retirement, Mersey remained active in public affairs and is probably best remembered for heading the official
Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
inquiries into the sinking of
steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
s, most notably RMS ''
Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...
'', , and , which gave rise to the Thrasher incident. He also chaired the inquiry under the Canada Shipping Act into the sinking of .


Early life

Bigham was born in
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, the second son of John Bigham, a prosperous merchant, and his wife, Helen, ''née'' East. He was educated at the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, and the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
, where he studied law. Bigham left the university without taking a degree. He then travelled to Berlin and Paris to continue his education.
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 ...
in 1870 by the
Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...
, he practised commercial law in and around his native city. On 17 August 1871 he married Georgina Sarah Rogers, also from Liverpool. The first of their three sons, Charles Clive Bigham (2nd Viscount Mersey), was born in 1872.


Barrister and judge

In 1883, Bigham was named a
Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...
. His commercial practice prospered. In 1885, he tried his hand at politics, standing as a Liberal candidate for
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
at the Liverpool constituency of East Toxteth, but lost. In
1892 In Samoa, this was the only leap year spanned to 367 days as July 4 repeated. This means that the International Date Line was drawn from the east of the country to go west. Events January * January 1 – Ellis Island begins processing imm ...
, he stood unsuccessfully in another Liverpool seat, the
Exchange Exchange or exchanged may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Exchange (film), or ''Deep Trap'', 2015 South Korean psychological thriller * Exchanged (film), 2019 Peruvian fantasy comedy * Exchange (TV program), 2021 Sou ...
constituency. He was finally elected at his third attempt in
1895 Events January * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island (off French Guiana) on what is much later admitted to be a false charge of tr ...
, when he stood as a
Liberal Unionist The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a political ...
. He was never able to make a great political impact, and his interest in politics was less than that in his legal work, which continued to flourish. During his last decade as a barrister, he was so in demand that he became one of the richest lawyers in his circle. In October 1897, Bigham was named a judge to the Queen's Bench, continuing his work in business law, and disqualifying him being an MP. He was
knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
the following month. He was president of the Railway and Canal Commission, worked in the bankruptcy courts and reviewed courts-martial sentences that were handed down during the
Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...
. He was appointed President of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division in 1909 but found the divorce work unfulfilling and retired in 1910. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Mersey, of Toxteth in the County Palatine of Lancaster, the same year.


Maritime law

In 1912, Mersey received his greatest fame when he was appointed by Lord Loreburn, the
Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...
in the government of
H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928) was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last ...
, to head the inquiry commission into the sinking of RMS ''Titanic''. There was some criticism of his handling of the inquiry. Some felt that he was biased towards the Board of Trade and the major shipping concerns and cared too little about finding out why the ship sank. In 1998, the historian Daniel Butler described Mersey as "autocratic, impatient and not a little testy" but noted the "surprising objectivity" of the inquiry's findings. However, Peter Padfield later concluded that there had been "crazy deductions, distortions, prejudice, and occasional bone-headed obstinacy of witnesses and the court".Eugene L. Rasor, ''The Titanic: Historiography and Annotated Bibliography'' (2001), p. 53 In 1913, Mersey presided over the
International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) is an international maritime treaty which sets out minimum safety standards in the construction, equipment and operation of merchant ships. The International Maritime Organiza ...
and added three more maritime inquiries to his résumé with his heading of the inquiries into the sinkings of RMS ''Empress of Ireland'' (held in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
in 1914) and ''Falaba'' and RMS ''Lusitania'' in 1915. About the last, Mersey is among those suspected by conspiracy theorists of a cover-up. His biographer Hugh Mooney wrote that such suspicions are wholly conjectural, but "the conclusion of the inquiry (which blamed Germany for the tragedy without reservation) was without doubt politically convenient". During the first part of the war, Mersey also worked in the Prize Courts, adjudicating seized cargo from the British blockade. This included the cases of the Wilhelmina (1915), the Roumanian (1916), and the Odessa (1916). Mersey was raised in the peerage from baron to
viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is ...
that year.


Later life

In his later years, Mersey was beset by deafness, but continued to work actively and returned to the bench in his eighties when the divorce courts had a heavy backlog. Mooney writes that "he helped to clear the lists with all his old efficiency". His wife died in 1925, and he died four years later at
Littlehampton Littlehampton is a town, seaside resort and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the English Channel on the eastern bank of the mouth of the River Arun. It is south south-west of London, west of Brighton and ...
in
West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...
, aged 89. Mersey's third son (although the second surviving) was Sir Trevor Bigham, who became
Deputy Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis The Deputy Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, commonly referred to simply as the Deputy Commissioner, is the second-in-command of London's Metropolitan Police Service. The rank is senior to Assistant Commissioner, but junior by one ra ...
. His first son, Colonel Charles Clive Bigham, survived the sinking of the passenger ship in 1915.


Notes


References

* * *


External links

* * * * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bigham, John Charles 1840 births 1929 deaths Alumni of the University of London Knights Bachelor Lawyers from Liverpool Liberal Unionist Party MPs for English constituencies Mersey, John Charles Bigham, 1st Viscount Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Liverpool constituencies People educated at Liverpool Institute High School for Boys People from Littlehampton Politicians from Liverpool Queen's Bench Division judges 19th-century King's Counsel UK MPs 1895–1900
Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it ...
Mersey, John Charles Bigham, 1st Viscount Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Peers created by Edward VII Viscounts created by George V Presidents of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division judges