Edwin James

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John Edwin James QC (c.1812 - 4 March 1882) was an English lawyer, who also practised in the U.S., Member of Parliament and would-be actor whose professional misconduct led him to end his life in poverty. He was the first ever QC to suffer disbarment.

Contents

[edit] Early career

His parents were John James, a solicitor and secondary of the City of London, and his wife Caroline née Combe, niece of Harvey Christian Combe.[1]

He unsuccessfully attempted to establish a career as an actor at an early age, taking lessons from John Cooper. He played at a private theatre in Gough Street, Gray's Inn Road, London and appeared as George Barnwell in The London Merchant at Cooper's Theatre Royal, Bath.[2] However, he lacked the natural good looks to succeed in the theatre, being said by Cyrus Jay to have "the appearance of a prize fighter"[2] and he instead turned to the law to become a barrister, being called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1836.[3]

He practised on the Home circuit and his most famous cases included:

James was made QC in 1850 but was not elected a bencher of the Inner Temple as was customary, perhaps because of the establishment's distaste for his radical sympathies and the nature of his practice.[8] The Spectator dscribed him as:

... a leader in all actions for seduction, breach of promise of marriage, assault, and false imprisonment, and in all cases that involved the reputation of an actress or a horse.[9]

However, he was made Recorder of Brighton in 1855,[1] by that time enjoying an income of £7,000 per year (£477,000 at 2003 prices[10]).[3] In 1859 he was elected Liberal MP for Marylebone.[3][11]

[edit] Scandal

As an MP, he was a loyal supporter of Palmerston and favoured the introduction of a ballot for parliamentary elections and abolition of church taxes.[2] However, his radicalism went beyond the mainstream. He spoke in public in support of democracy and against Napoleon III, and spent part of 1859 at the camp of Giuseppe Garibaldi. His reputation was further tainted by his alleged bribery of voters in his campaign on behalf of John Jervis in the Horsham in 1847.[4]

Nonetheless, early in 1861 James was reputedly on the point of being appointed Attorney General[12] but on 9 April 1861, he suddenly resigned all his public offices, stating that he needed to devote his time to his professional career.[13]

It came to light that he was in dire financial difficulties, owing £100,000 (£7.5 million at 2003 prices[10]) and under investigation by his Inn. It was established that he had:[3]

It seems that it was Yarborough who had prevailed upon James to resign his public offices in order to protect Worsley. Nonetheless, on 9 July 1861 James married Marianne née Hilliard.[2]

[edit] Disbarment and after

He was disbarred on 18 June 1861 but emigrated to the U.S. and was admitted to the bar in New York. There he was lauded as a leader of the English Bar and he commented publicly on matters of public excitement such as the Trent Affair. There was some cynicism about his American practice within the British press with accusations that the New York Bar were well aware of his domestic disbarrment.[14] However, when his earlier conduct did become known in America, an attempt was made to disbar him there, only failing when he denied the charges on oath and the judges were equally divided as to his culpability.[6] He also appears to have resurrected, either through inclination or necessity, his acting career, appearing at the Winter Garden Theatre, New York in 1865. He had married in 1861 but his wife divorced him in 1863. He took American citizenship in 1866 and married Eliza née Wilson (1825–1902) in 1868.[2]

He returned to England in 1873 but failed to be readmitted to the bar of England and Wales. Though he tried, he also failed to be admitted as a solicitor or to be selected for Marylebone. He practised as a paralegal for the rest of his life but was in poor financial circumstances, ultimately coming to rely on charity.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c The Times, 7 March 1882, p.10 col.D
  2. ^ a b c d e Boase (2004)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Knott (1912) p.317
  4. ^ a b Pue (1990) 83
  5. ^ R v. Bernard [1858] 8 St. Tr. N.S. 887, (1858) 1 F&F 240
  6. ^ a b Boase [1891]
  7. ^ Twelvetrees, H. (1863). The Story of the Life of John Anderson, the Fugitive Slave. London: William Tweedie, 56. 
  8. ^ Pue (1990) 82-83
  9. ^ "The career of a Q.C.", The Spectator, 8 Feb 1862, 150-151
  10. ^ a b c d e O‘Donoghue, J. et al. (2004). "Consumer Price Inflation since 1750". Economic Trends 604: 38–46, March. 
  11. ^ Stenton (1976)
  12. ^ The Times, 18 March 1882, p.10 col.D has "Solicitor General" but "Attorney General" is clear from Pue (1990)
  13. ^ Pue (1990) 76
  14. ^ Pue (1990) pp'77-78

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] By James

  • James, E. J. (1842) The Act for the Amendement of the Law in Bankruptcy
  • — (1858) The Speech of E. James in Defence of S. Bernard
  • — (1867) The Bankrupt Law of the United States
  • — (1872) The Political Institutions of America and England

[edit] Obituaries

  • The Times, 7 March 1882, p.10 col.D
  • Daily News, 7 March 1882, p.5
  • Solicitors' Journal, 26 (1881–2), 301
  • Law Times, 18 March 1882, p.358

[edit] About James

  • [Anon.] (1859) Illustrated London News, 30 April, 429
  • [Anon.] (1861a) "The fall of Mr Edwin James", Saturday Review, 13 April, 358-359
  • [Anon.] (1861b) "Edwin James on the Trent Affair", Solicitors' Journal and Reporter, 8 February, 253
  • [Anon.] (1861–2) Law Magazine, new series, 12:263–86
  • [Anon.] (1862a) "The disbarmment of Edwin James, Esq. Q.C.", Solicitors' Journal and Reporter, 14 December, 103
  • [Anon.] (1862b) "The Inner Temple benchers — Disbarment of Edwin James Q.C.", Law Magazine and Review, 12:266; 13:335–45
  • [Anon.] (1862c) Annual Register, 140–43
  • Boase, G. C. [1891] (2001) "James, Edwin John (1812-1882)", in Lee, S. (ed.) Dictionary of National Biography, Adamant Media Corporation, ISBN 140217067X, 29:206-207 (Google Books)
  • — rev. Metcalfe, E. (2004) "James, Edwin John (1812–1882)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, accessed 27 Dec 2007 (subscription or UK/ Ireland public library membership required)
  • Knott, G. H. (1912). The Trial of William Palmer, Notable English Trials, Edinburgh: William Hodge & Co.. 
  • Pue, W. W. (1990). "Moral panic at the English Bar: Paternal vs. commercial ideologies of legal practice in the 1860s". Law and Social Inquiry 15(1): 49–118. , pp75-86
  • Stenton, M. (ed.) (1976). Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832-1885. 
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Viscount Ebrington
Sir Benjamin Hall, Bt		 Member of Parliament for Marylebone
with Sir Benjamin Hall, Bt 1859
The Lord Fermoy 1859–1861
1859–1861		 Succeeded by
John Harvey Lewis
The Lord Fermoy