Charles Austin,
QC (1799–1874) was an English barrister. A leader of the parliamentary bar, he was prominent in the
Railway Mania
Railway Mania was a stock market bubble in the rail transportation industry of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1840s. It followed a common pattern: as the price of railway shares increased, speculators invested more mon ...
of the later 1840s. According to Patrick Polden, his "career ridiculed the noble ideals of the bar".
Early life
Austin was the second son of Jonathan Austin, of Creeting Mill, in the county of
Suffolk
Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
;
John Austin was his elder brother. He was educated at
Bury St Edmunds Grammar School. He was for a time apprenticed to a surgeon at
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
, but was then sent to
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...
, in 1819. He was President of the
Cambridge Union Society
The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a historic Debate, debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. The society was founded in 1815 making it the ...
in 1822.
In 1822 he won the Hulsean prize for an essay on Christian evidence. In 1824 he graduated BA According to
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism and social liberalism, he contributed widely to s ...
, Austin as undergraduate was an influential exponent of the ideas of
; and he had a reputation for brilliance as one of a group of contemporaries that included
Thomas Babington Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was an English historian, poet, and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster General between 184 ...
,
Winthrop Mackworth Praed
Winthrop Mackworth Praed (28 July 180215 July 1839)—typically written as W. Mackworth Praed—was an English people, English politician and poet.
Life
Early life
Praed was born in London, United Kingdom. The family name of Praed was derive ...
,
John Moultrie,
Edward Strutt,
John Romilly,
Charles Buller, and
Alexander James Edmund Cockburn.
Lawyer
Having chosen law as a profession, Austin entered as a student at 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 ...
, read in the chambers of
Sir William Follett, then in the height of his fame as an advocate, and was called to the bar in 1827. He joined the Norfolk circuit, and went to the Ipswich, Bury, and Norwich sessions. His conversational powers were highly regarded. He wrote for the ''
Parliamentary History and Review'', and contributed occasionally to the ''
Retrospective Review'' and the ''
Westminster Review
The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly United Kingdom, British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the libe ...
'', until his rapid success as a barrister.
Austin was the undisputed leader of the parliamentary bar, the group of barristers who specialised in private bill procedure. In 1847, at the height of the railway mania, his income was enormous — estimates vary from £40,000 to £100,000.
It was the wish of Austin's friends that he should enter parliament, and
James Mill
James Mill (born James Milne; 6 April 1773 – 23 June 1836) was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist and philosopher. He is counted among the founders of the Ricardian school of economics. He also wrote '' The History of Britis ...
used his influence with
Joseph Hume
Joseph Hume Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (22 January 1777 – 20 February 1855) was a Scottish surgeon and Radicals (UK), Radical Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP.Ronald K. Huch, Paul R. Ziegler 1985 Joseph Hume, the People's M.P ...
in order to get him returned for
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
; but Austin never stood as a candidate. He also refused the solicitor-generalship in 1834. In 1841 he was made
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 ...
.
Later life
In 1848 he retired from practice with a large fortune. From that time to that of his death he lived in retirement. He had
Brandeston Hall, seriously damaged in a fire of 1847, rebuilt.
He was
High Steward of Ipswich and chairman of the quarter-sessions of East Suffolk.
He married, in 1856, Harriet Jane, daughter of Captain Ralph Mitford Preston Ingelby. He died at Brandeston Hall, near
Wickham Market, on 21 December 1874.
References
Bibliography
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Charles
1799 births
1874 deaths
Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge
People from Creeting St Mary
19th-century English lawyers