Charles Marsh (1774?–1835) was an English barrister and politician.

Life

Born about 1774, he was a younger son of Edward Marsh, a

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 ...

manufacturer, and received his education at the

Norwich School Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a private selective day school in the close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as an episcop ...

under Dr. Forster. On 5 October 1792 he was admitted pensioner of

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, but did not graduate. He became a student of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

on 26 September 1791, 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 ...

, and in 1804 went to

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, where he practised with success. On his return to England Marsh was elected Member of Parliament for

East Retford East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact ...

in the

1812 United Kingdom general election The 1812 United Kingdom general election was the fourth general election after the Union of Great Britain and Ireland, held from 5 October 1812 to 10 November 1812, taking place at the height of the Napoleonic Wars. The fourth United Kingdom ...

, thanks to some bare-faced trickery in representing himself as the Whig candidate.historyofparliamentonline.org, ''Marsh, Charles (c.1774-1835).''
/ref> On 1 July 1813 he spoke in a committee of the House of Commons in support of the amendment, moved by Sir Thomas Sutton, on the clause in the East India Bill providing further facilities for persons to go out to India for religious purposes. He denounced the attempts of

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 ...

and others to make Christian converts in India. His speech was described as "one of the most pointed and vigorous philippics in any language" in the ''

Quarterly Review The ''Quarterly Review'' was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by London publishing house John Murray. It ceased publication in 1967. It was referred to as ''The London Quarterly Review'', as reprinted by Leonard Scott, f ...

''. Marsh did not seek re-election at East Retford 1818, contesting

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...

unsuccessfully. He had money problems during the 1820s, and died in 1835.

Works

Marsh was a contributor to ''The Cabinet. By a Society of Gentlemen'', a Norwich periodical, published in volumes in 1795. He wrote also some pamphlets, including ''An Appeal to the Public Spirit of Great Britain'', London, 1803, and ''A Review of some important Passages in the late Administration of Sir George Hilaro Barlow, Bart., at Madras'', London, 1813. His speech on the East India Bill was printed in pamphlet form in 1813, and also in vol. ii. of ''The Pamphleteer'' (1813). He is also the reputed author of two volumes of gossip, ''The Clubs of London; with Anecdotes of their Members, Sketches of Character, and Conversations'', London, 1828, although recent scholarship suggests that Scottish writer

Colin Mackenzie Colonel Colin Mackenzie (1754–8 May 1821) was a Scottish army officer in the British East India Company who later became the first Surveyor General of India. He was a collector of antiquities and an orientalist and an indologist. He sur ...

may be the true author of this work. Some of the anecdotes had already appeared in the ''

New Monthly Magazine ''The New Monthly Magazine'' was a British monthly magazine published from 1814 to 1884. It was founded by Henry Colburn and published by him through to 1845. History Colburn and Frederic Shoberl established ''The New Monthly Magazine and Uni ...

'', to which Marsh contributed. The ''Letters of Vetus'' in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' (1812) have been attributed incorrectly to Marsh. They were written by

Edward Sterling Edward Sterling (17731847) was a British journalist. Life He was the son of the Rev. Anthony Sterling, and was born at Waterford. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin. Called to the Irish Bar, he fought as a militia captain at the Battl ...

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Charles 1770s births 1835 deaths English barristers Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Politicians from Norwich UK MPs 1812–1818 People educated at Norwich School Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge