Charles Pearson
Encyclopedia
Charles Pearson was Solicitor
to the City of London
, a reforming campaigner, and – briefly – Member of Parliament
for Lambeth
. He campaigned against corruption in jury selection, for penal reform, for the abolition of capital punishment
, and for universal suffrage
.
Pearson used his influence as City Solicitor to promote improvements to transport communications. Initially, he proposed a central railway station for the City, accessed by tunnel, that would be used by multiple railway companies enabling workers to commute
to the City from further away. When this plan was rejected, Pearson promoted an underground railway connecting the capital's northern termini. The resulting Metropolitan Railway
was the first underground railway in the world and led to the development of the extensive London Underground
network and the rapid expansion of the capital.
, he was apprenticed
to his father but instead studied law and qualified as a solicitor
in 1816. In 1817, he was released from his indenture
by the Haberdashers' Company
and married Mary Martha Dutton. The couple had one child, Mary Dutton Pearson, born in 1820.
of the City of London Corporation for Bishopsgate
ward
and served in that role from 1817 to 1820 and from 1830 to 1836 as well. He served as chairman of the City board of health from 1831 to 1833. In 1839, he gave up his extensive private practice and was appointed City Solicitor, holding that office until his death.
Despite his comfortable upbringing and his high social status, Pearson was a radical, and throughout his life he fought a number of campaigns on progressive and reforming issues including the removal from the Monument inscription
blaming the Great Fire of London
on Catholics
, the abolition of packed special jury
lists for political trials, and the overturning of the ban on Jews becoming brokers in the City. Pearson was in favour of the disestablishment
of the Church of England
and opposed capital punishment
. Politically, he supported universal suffrage
and electoral reform to balance the sizes of parliamentary constituencies
. He unsuccessfully attempted to break the local monopolies developed by the gas companies, calling for the distribution pipework to be owned collectively by the consumers.
Pearson was a Liberal
and was elected at the 1847 general election
as a Member of Parliament
for Lambeth
. His campaign was prompted by a desire to promote his penal reform campaign in parliament. He resigned his seat
in 1850 thorough the mechanism of accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds
.
s, Pearson published a pamphlet in 1845 calling for the construction of an underground railway through the Fleet
valley to Farringdon. The proposed railway would have been an atmospheric railway
with trains pushed through tunnels by compressed air. Although the proposal was ridiculed and came to nothing (and would almost certainly have failed if it had been built, due to the shortcomings of the technology proposed), Pearson continued to lobby for a variety of railway schemes throughout the 1840s and 1850s.
In 1846, Pearson proposed with the support of the City Corporation a central railway station for London located in Farringdon that was estimated to cost £1 million (approximately £ today). The station, to be shared by multiple railway companies, was to be approached from the north in a covered cutting 80 feet (24.4 m) wide. Pearson's aim in promoting this plan was to facilitate the improvement of the social conditions of City workers by enabling them to commute into London on cheap trains from new residential developments of good quality, cheap homes built outside the capital. The 1846 Royal Commission on Metropolitan Railway Termini rejected the proposal, preferring to define a limit around the centre of the capital into which no new railway lines could be extended.
In 1854, a Royal Commission
was set up to examine a number of new proposals for railways in London. Pearson made a proposal for a railway connecting the London Termini and presented as evidence the first survey of traffic coming into London which demonstrated the high level of congestion caused by the huge number of carts, cabs and omnibuses filling the roads. Pearson's commentary on this was that:
Many of the proposed schemes were rejected, but the Commission did recommend that a railway be constructed linking the termini with the docks
and the General Post Office
at St. Martin's Le Grand
. A private bill
for the Metropolitan Railway
between Praed Street
in Paddington
and Farringdon received assent
on 7 August 1854.
Although not a director
or significant shareholder
of the new company, Pearson continued to promote the project over the next few years and use his influence to help the company raise the £1 million of capital
needed for the construction of the line. He issued a pamphlet, A twenty minutes letter to the citizens of London, in favour of the Metropolitan Railway and City Station, encouraging investment and he even persuaded the City of London to invest on the basis that the railway would alleviate the City's congestion problems. Once the railway was in operation, the City sold its shares at a profit. By 1860, the funds had been collected and the final route decided. Work on the railway started; taking less than three years to excavate through some of the worst slum
s of Victorian
London and under some of the busiest streets.
Pearson died of dropsy
on 14 September 1862 at his home at West Hill, Wandsworth
, and did not live to see the opening of the Metropolitan Railway on 10 January 1863. Pearson had refused the offer of a reward from the grateful railway company, but, shortly after the railway's opening, his widow was granted an annuity of £250 per year.
He was buried at West Norwood Cemetery
on 23 September 1862.
considers Pearson to have "by far the best claim" to be the first to propose the idea of an underground railway to deal with London's congestion problem. Michael Robbins considers that "without Pearson's constant advocacy–his gadfly conduct, which he managed to combine with holding high office in the City of London–the Metropolitan Railway, the first of its kind in the world, and the nucleus of London's underground system, could not have come into existence when it did."
When it opened, the Metropolitan Railway had a significant impact on street traffic, particularly cabs
and omnibuses
but these quickly recovered to near their former levels, despite the Metropolitan Railway also carrying over 9 million passengers in its first year of operation. The Metropolitan Railway and the network of underground lines that grew from it was the first in the world and the idea was not adopted elsewhere until 1896 when the Budapest Metro
and the Glasgow Subway
were both opened. Without Pearson's promotion of the idea of an underground railway when he did it is possible that transport developments at the end of the 19th century developments, such as electric trams and vehicles powered by internal combustion engine
s, might have meant the underground solution was ignored. The expansion of the capital that the underground network and its suburban surface extensions enabled was considerable and rapid and helped the population of what is now Greater London
to increase from 3,094,391 in 1861 to 6,226,494 in 1901.
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
to the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, a reforming campaigner, and – briefly – Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Lambeth
Lambeth (UK Parliament constituency)
Lambeth was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Lambeth district of South London. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.-History:...
. He campaigned against corruption in jury selection, for penal reform, for the abolition of capital punishment
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom was used from the creation of the state in 1707 until the practice was abolished in the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom, by hanging, took place in 1964, prior to capital punishment being abolished for murder...
, and for universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
.
Pearson used his influence as City Solicitor to promote improvements to transport communications. Initially, he proposed a central railway station for the City, accessed by tunnel, that would be used by multiple railway companies enabling workers to commute
Commuting
Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations when not work related.- History :...
to the City from further away. When this plan was rejected, Pearson promoted an underground railway connecting the capital's northern termini. The resulting Metropolitan Railway
Metropolitan railway
Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...
was the first underground railway in the world and led to the development of the extensive London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
network and the rapid expansion of the capital.
Early life
Pearson was born on 4 October 1793 at 25 Clement's Lane in the City of London, the son of Thomas Pearson, an upholsterer and feather merchant, and his wife Sarah. After education in EastbourneEastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
, he was apprenticed
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
to his father but instead studied law and qualified as a solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
in 1816. In 1817, he was released from his indenture
Indenture
An indenture is a legal contract reflecting a debt or purchase obligation, specifically referring to two types of practices: in historical usage, an indentured servant status, and in modern usage, an instrument used for commercial debt or real estate transaction.-Historical usage:An indenture is a...
by the Haberdashers' Company
Worshipful Company of Haberdashers
The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers is one of the senior Livery Companies of the City of London. The organisation, following on from the Mercers' Company, another Livery Company connected with clothing and haberdashery, received a Royal Charter in 1448...
and married Mary Martha Dutton. The couple had one child, Mary Dutton Pearson, born in 1820.
City career and campaigning
In 1817, Pearson was elected a councilmanCouncillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
of the City of London Corporation for Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate is a road and ward in the northeast part of the City of London, extending north from Gracechurch Street to Norton Folgate. It is named after one of the original seven gates in London Wall...
ward
Wards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...
and served in that role from 1817 to 1820 and from 1830 to 1836 as well. He served as chairman of the City board of health from 1831 to 1833. In 1839, he gave up his extensive private practice and was appointed City Solicitor, holding that office until his death.
Despite his comfortable upbringing and his high social status, Pearson was a radical, and throughout his life he fought a number of campaigns on progressive and reforming issues including the removal from the Monument inscription
Monument to the Great Fire of London
The Monument to the Great Fire of London, more commonly known as The monument, is a 202 ft tall stone Roman Doric column in the City of London, England, near the northern end of London Bridge. It stands at the junction of Monument Street and Panda Bear Hill, 202 ft from where the Great...
blaming the Great Fire of London
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
on Catholics
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, the abolition of packed special jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
lists for political trials, and the overturning of the ban on Jews becoming brokers in the City. Pearson was in favour of the disestablishment
Disestablishmentarianism
Disestablishmentarianism today relates to the Church of England in the United Kingdom and related views on its establishment as an established church....
of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
and opposed capital punishment
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom was used from the creation of the state in 1707 until the practice was abolished in the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom, by hanging, took place in 1964, prior to capital punishment being abolished for murder...
. Politically, he supported universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
and electoral reform to balance the sizes of parliamentary constituencies
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. He unsuccessfully attempted to break the local monopolies developed by the gas companies, calling for the distribution pipework to be owned collectively by the consumers.
Pearson was a Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
and was elected at the 1847 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1847
-Seats summary:-References:* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher *...
as a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Lambeth
Lambeth (UK Parliament constituency)
Lambeth was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Lambeth district of South London. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.-History:...
. His campaign was prompted by a desire to promote his penal reform campaign in parliament. He resigned his seat
Resignation from the British House of Commons
Members of Parliament sitting in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are technically forbidden to resign. To circumvent this prohibition, a legal fiction is used...
in 1850 thorough the mechanism of accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds
Chiltern Hundreds
Appointment to the office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham is a sinecure appointment which is used as a device allowing a Member of the United Kingdom Parliament to resign his or her seat...
.
Campaigning for an underground railway
Recognising the increasing congestion in the City and its rapidly growing suburbSuburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
s, Pearson published a pamphlet in 1845 calling for the construction of an underground railway through the Fleet
River Fleet
The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers. Its two headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath; each is now dammed into a series of ponds made in the 18th century, the Hampstead Ponds and the Highgate Ponds. At the south edge of Hampstead Heath these two streams flow...
valley to Farringdon. The proposed railway would have been an atmospheric railway
Atmospheric railway
An atmospheric railway uses air pressure to provide power for propulsion. In one plan a pneumatic tube is laid between the rails, with a piston running in it suspended from the train through a sealable slot in the top of the tube. Alternatively, the whole tunnel may be the pneumatic tube with the...
with trains pushed through tunnels by compressed air. Although the proposal was ridiculed and came to nothing (and would almost certainly have failed if it had been built, due to the shortcomings of the technology proposed), Pearson continued to lobby for a variety of railway schemes throughout the 1840s and 1850s.
In 1846, Pearson proposed with the support of the City Corporation a central railway station for London located in Farringdon that was estimated to cost £1 million (approximately £ today). The station, to be shared by multiple railway companies, was to be approached from the north in a covered cutting 80 feet (24.4 m) wide. Pearson's aim in promoting this plan was to facilitate the improvement of the social conditions of City workers by enabling them to commute into London on cheap trains from new residential developments of good quality, cheap homes built outside the capital. The 1846 Royal Commission on Metropolitan Railway Termini rejected the proposal, preferring to define a limit around the centre of the capital into which no new railway lines could be extended.
In 1854, a Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
was set up to examine a number of new proposals for railways in London. Pearson made a proposal for a railway connecting the London Termini and presented as evidence the first survey of traffic coming into London which demonstrated the high level of congestion caused by the huge number of carts, cabs and omnibuses filling the roads. Pearson's commentary on this was that:
the overcrowding of the city is caused, first by the natural increase in the population and area of the surrounding district; secondly, by the influx of provincial passengers by the great railways North of London, and the obstruction experienced in the streets by omnibuses and cabs coming from their distant stations, to bring the provincial travellers to and from the heart of the city. I point next to the vast increase of what I may term the migratory population, the population of the city who now oscillate between the country and the city, who leave the City of London every afternoon and return every morning.
London Docks
The London Docks were one of several sets of docks in the historic Port of London. They were constructed in Wapping downstream from the City of London between 1799 and 1815, at a cost exceeding £5½ million. Traditionally ships had docked at wharves on the River Thames, but by this time, more...
and the General Post Office
General Post Office
General Post Office is the name of the British postal system from 1660 until 1969.General Post Office may also refer to:* General Post Office, Perth* General Post Office, Sydney* General Post Office, Melbourne* General Post Office, Brisbane...
at St. Martin's Le Grand
St. Martin's Le Grand
St Martin’s le Grand is a street and former liberty in the City of London between Newgate Street and Cheapside to the south and Aldersgate Street and London Wall to the north. To the east of the road once stood the collegiate church and monastic precinct of St Martin's, of ancient origin...
. A private bill
Private bill
A private bill is a proposal for a law that would apply to a particular individual or group of individuals, or corporate entity. If enacted, it becomes a private Act . This is unlike public bills which apply to everyone within their jurisdiction...
for the Metropolitan Railway
Metropolitan railway
Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...
between Praed Street
Praed Street
Praed Street is a street in London's Paddington district , most notable for the fact that Paddington Station is situated on it. It runs straight in a west-south-westerly direction from Edgware Road to Craven Road, Spring Street and Eastbourne Terrace.-History:Praed Street was originally laid out in...
in Paddington
Paddington
Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...
and Farringdon received assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
on 7 August 1854.
Although not a director
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
or significant shareholder
Shareholder
A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....
of the new company, Pearson continued to promote the project over the next few years and use his influence to help the company raise the £1 million of capital
Capital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
needed for the construction of the line. He issued a pamphlet, A twenty minutes letter to the citizens of London, in favour of the Metropolitan Railway and City Station, encouraging investment and he even persuaded the City of London to invest on the basis that the railway would alleviate the City's congestion problems. Once the railway was in operation, the City sold its shares at a profit. By 1860, the funds had been collected and the final route decided. Work on the railway started; taking less than three years to excavate through some of the worst slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
s of Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
London and under some of the busiest streets.
Pearson died of dropsy
Edema
Edema or oedema ; both words from the Greek , oídēma "swelling"), formerly known as dropsy or hydropsy, is an abnormal accumulation of fluid beneath the skin or in one or more cavities of the body that produces swelling...
on 14 September 1862 at his home at West Hill, Wandsworth
Wandsworth
Wandsworth is a district of south London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-Toponymy:...
, and did not live to see the opening of the Metropolitan Railway on 10 January 1863. Pearson had refused the offer of a reward from the grateful railway company, but, shortly after the railway's opening, his widow was granted an annuity of £250 per year.
He was buried at West Norwood Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery is a cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery.One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries of London, and is a site of major historical, architectural and...
on 23 September 1862.
Legacy
Transport writer Christian WolmarChristian Wolmar
Christian Wolmar is a British journalist, author, and railway historian of Swedish and Russian descent. He is best known for his books and commentary on transport, especially as a pundit on Britain's railway network, and was named Transport Journalist of the Year in the National Transport Awards in...
considers Pearson to have "by far the best claim" to be the first to propose the idea of an underground railway to deal with London's congestion problem. Michael Robbins considers that "without Pearson's constant advocacy–his gadfly conduct, which he managed to combine with holding high office in the City of London–the Metropolitan Railway, the first of its kind in the world, and the nucleus of London's underground system, could not have come into existence when it did."
When it opened, the Metropolitan Railway had a significant impact on street traffic, particularly cabs
Hackney carriage
A hackney or hackney carriage is a carriage or automobile for hire...
and omnibuses
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
but these quickly recovered to near their former levels, despite the Metropolitan Railway also carrying over 9 million passengers in its first year of operation. The Metropolitan Railway and the network of underground lines that grew from it was the first in the world and the idea was not adopted elsewhere until 1896 when the Budapest Metro
Budapest Metro
The Budapest Metro is the rapid transit system in the Hungarian capital Budapest. It is the second-oldest underground metro system in the world after the London Underground. Its iconic Line 1, dating from 1896, was declared a World Heritage Site in 2002.-Lines:The Metro consists of three lines,...
and the Glasgow Subway
Glasgow Subway
The Glasgow Subway is an underground metro line in Glasgow, Scotland. Opened on 14 December 1896, it is the third-oldest underground metro system in the world after the London Underground and the Budapest Metro. Formerly a cable railway, the Subway was later electrified, but its twin circular lines...
were both opened. Without Pearson's promotion of the idea of an underground railway when he did it is possible that transport developments at the end of the 19th century developments, such as electric trams and vehicles powered by internal combustion engine
Internal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
s, might have meant the underground solution was ignored. The expansion of the capital that the underground network and its suburban surface extensions enabled was considerable and rapid and helped the population of what is now Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
to increase from 3,094,391 in 1861 to 6,226,494 in 1901.