Edward Macnaghten, Baron Macnaghten
Encyclopedia
Edward Macnaghten, Baron Macnaghten, Bart.
, GCB
, GCMG
(3 February 1830 – 17 February 1913) was an Anglo
-Irish
rower
, barrister, Conservative
-Unionist
politician and one of seven Lords of Appeal in Ordinary.
, London
the second son of Sir Edmund Workman-Macnaghten, Bt. but grew up mainly at Roe Park, Limavady
. He attended school in Sunderland and then Trinity College, Dublin
, and Trinity College, Cambridge
, graduating Bachelor of Arts
in 1852.
Macnaghten was a rower at Cambridge. In 1851, he was runner up to E G Peacock in the Diamond Challenge Sculls
at Henley Royal Regatta
, but avenged this the following year with a win. Macnaghten rowed bow for Cambridge
in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race in 1852 which was won by Oxford. Also in 1852, he turned the tables on Peacock to win the Diamond Challenge Sculls from him at Henley.
in 1857, Macnaghten built up a successful practice and became Queen's Counsel
in 1880. That same year he was elected to the House of Commons
as Conservative
Member of Parliament
for County Antrim, exchanging this seat five years later for that of North Antrim
. In 1912 he signed the Ulster Covenant
.
Having declined the offers of a judgeship from Gladstone
and the Home Secretaryship from the Conservatives, he was in 1887 appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary as Baron Macnaghten, of Runkerry in the County of Antrim
. No practising barrister who had been Queen's Counsel for less than seven years had ever before been promoted to the House of Lords
.
in 1902 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
in the 1911 coronation
honours
of George V
. He also succeeded his elder brother, Francis, as fourth Baronet in the latter year.
was the determination of categories of charitable trust
s (in the case of Commissioners for Special Purposes of Income Tax v Pemsel). He also sat in the landmark decision
of Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd. In the case of Montgomery v Thompson (Eng.), AC 225 (1891), he held that a brewery opened in the town of Stone in Staffordshire
could not use the name "Stone Ale", as this would infringe the rights of an existing seller of a product named "Stone Ale". He famously remarked, "Thirsty folk want beer, not explanations."
He is famous for the elegance of his prose. An example is given in the case of Gluckstein v Barnes [1900] AC 240, where he refused to order that fraudulent company promoters should be entitled to contribution from other participants of the fraud. He said, "In these two matters Mr. Gluckstein has been in my opinion extremely fortunate. But he complains that he may have a difficulty in recovering from his co-directors their share of the spoil, and he asks that the official liquidator may proceed against his associates before calling upon him to make good the whole amount with which he has been charged. My Lords, there may be occasions in which that would be a proper course to take. But I cannot think that this is a case in which any indulgence ought to be shewn to Mr. Gluckstein. He may or may not be able to recover a contribution from those who joined with him in defrauding the company. He can bring an action at law if he likes. If he hesitates to take that course or takes it and fails, then his only remedy lies in an appeal to that sense of honour which is popularly supposed to exist among robbers of a humbler type."
He also gave an eloquent description of a floating charge in Illingworth v Houldsworth [1904] AC 335, where he said, "A specific charge, I think, is one that without more fastens on ascertained and definite property or property capable of being ascertained and defined; a floating charge, on the other hand, is ambulatory and shifting in its nature, hovering over and so to speak floating with the property which it is intended to affect until some event occurs or some act is done which causes it to settle and fasten on the subject of the charge within its reach and grasp."
He married, in 1858, Frances Arabella (d. 1903), the only child of Sir Samuel Martin, a baron of the exchequer; they had five sons and six daughters. His daughters remained living at Runkerry until c. 1950.
He died of pneumonia in 1913 at his home 198 Queen's Gate, Kensington
, London
, and was buried at Bushmills. One of his sons, Sir Malcolm
(himself a judge), married the daughter of Charles Booth
.
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
, GCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, GCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(3 February 1830 – 17 February 1913) was an Anglo
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
rower
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
, barrister, Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
-Unionist
Unionism in Ireland
Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain...
politician and one of seven Lords of Appeal in Ordinary.
Early life and rowing
Macnaghten was born in BloomsburyBloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
the second son of Sir Edmund Workman-Macnaghten, Bt. but grew up mainly at Roe Park, Limavady
Limavady
Limavady is a market town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with Binevenagh as a backdrop. It lies east of Derry and south west of Coleraine. It had a population of 12,135 people in the 2001 Census, an increase of some 17% compared to 1991...
. He attended school in Sunderland and then Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, and Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, graduating Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1852.
Macnaghten was a rower at Cambridge. In 1851, he was runner up to E G Peacock in the Diamond Challenge Sculls
Diamond Challenge Sculls
The Diamond Challenge Sculls is a rowing event for men's single sculls at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England...
at Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...
, but avenged this the following year with a win. Macnaghten rowed bow for Cambridge
Cambridge University Boat Club
The Cambridge University Boat Club is the rowing club of the University of Cambridge, England, located on the River Cam at Cambridge, although training primarily takes place on the River Great Ouse at Ely. The club was founded in 1828...
in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race in 1852 which was won by Oxford. Also in 1852, he turned the tables on Peacock to win the Diamond Challenge Sculls from him at Henley.
Legal & political career
After being called to the BarCall 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 a "call to the bar"...
in 1857, Macnaghten built up a successful practice and became Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
in 1880. That same year he was elected to the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
as Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
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 County Antrim, exchanging this seat five years later for that of North Antrim
North Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)
North Antrim is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. Its current member is Ian Paisley Jr.-Boundaries:North Antrim has always been a county constituency comprising the northern part of County Antrim in the north-east of Northern Ireland...
. In 1912 he signed the Ulster Covenant
Ulster Covenant
The Ulster Covenant was signed by just under half a million of men and women from Ulster, on and before September 28, 1912, in protest against the Third Home Rule Bill, introduced by the Government in that same year...
.
Having declined the offers of a judgeship from Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
and the Home Secretaryship from the Conservatives, he was in 1887 appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary as Baron Macnaghten, of Runkerry in the County of Antrim
County Antrim
County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...
. No practising barrister who had been Queen's Counsel for less than seven years had ever before been promoted to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
.
Decorations
Lord Macnaghten was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St GeorgeOrder of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
in 1902 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
in the 1911 coronation
Coronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
honours
British honours system
The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories...
of George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
. He also succeeded his elder brother, Francis, as fourth Baronet in the latter year.
Legacy
Lord Macnaghten's most famous contribution to English lawEnglish law
English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries and the United States except Louisiana...
was the determination of categories of charitable trust
Charitable trust
A charitable trust is an irrevocable trust established for charitable purposes, and is a more specific term than "charitable organization".-United States:...
s (in the case of Commissioners for Special Purposes of Income Tax v Pemsel). He also sat in the landmark decision
Landmark decision
Landmark court decisions establish new precedents that establish a significant new legal principle or concept, or otherwise substantially change the interpretation of existing law...
of Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd. In the case of Montgomery v Thompson (Eng.), AC 225 (1891), he held that a brewery opened in the town of Stone in Staffordshire
Stone, Staffordshire
Stone is an old market town in Staffordshire, England, situated about seven miles north of Stafford, and around seven miles south of the city of Stoke-on-Trent. It is the second town, after Stafford itself, in the Borough of Stafford, and has long been of importance from the point of view of...
could not use the name "Stone Ale", as this would infringe the rights of an existing seller of a product named "Stone Ale". He famously remarked, "Thirsty folk want beer, not explanations."
He is famous for the elegance of his prose. An example is given in the case of Gluckstein v Barnes [1900] AC 240, where he refused to order that fraudulent company promoters should be entitled to contribution from other participants of the fraud. He said, "In these two matters Mr. Gluckstein has been in my opinion extremely fortunate. But he complains that he may have a difficulty in recovering from his co-directors their share of the spoil, and he asks that the official liquidator may proceed against his associates before calling upon him to make good the whole amount with which he has been charged. My Lords, there may be occasions in which that would be a proper course to take. But I cannot think that this is a case in which any indulgence ought to be shewn to Mr. Gluckstein. He may or may not be able to recover a contribution from those who joined with him in defrauding the company. He can bring an action at law if he likes. If he hesitates to take that course or takes it and fails, then his only remedy lies in an appeal to that sense of honour which is popularly supposed to exist among robbers of a humbler type."
He also gave an eloquent description of a floating charge in Illingworth v Houldsworth [1904] AC 335, where he said, "A specific charge, I think, is one that without more fastens on ascertained and definite property or property capable of being ascertained and defined; a floating charge, on the other hand, is ambulatory and shifting in its nature, hovering over and so to speak floating with the property which it is intended to affect until some event occurs or some act is done which causes it to settle and fasten on the subject of the charge within its reach and grasp."
Personal life
He died of pneumonia in 1913 at his home 198 Queen's Gate, Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and was buried at Bushmills. One of his sons, Sir Malcolm
Malcolm Macnaghten
Sir Malcolm Martin Macnaghten KBE , was a Northern Ireland Unionist politician and judge, the fourth son of Lord Macnaghten, Bt.....
(himself a judge), married the daughter of Charles Booth
Charles Booth (philanthropist)
Charles Booth was an English philanthropist and social researcher. He is most famed for his innovative work on documenting working class life in London at the end of the 19th century, work that along with that of Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree influenced government intervention against poverty in the...
.