Charles Shaw-Lefevre, 1st Viscount Eversley

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox officeholder Charles Shaw-Lefevre, 1st Viscount Eversley, GCB, PC (22 February 1794 – 28 December 1888), was a British Whig politician. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1839 to 1857. He is the second-longest serving Speaker of the House of Commons, behind Arthur Onslow.

Background and education

Shaw-Lefevre was the son of Charles Shaw-Lefevre by his wife Helena, daughter of John Lefevre. His younger brother, Sir John Shaw-Lefevre, was a senior civil servant and one of the founders of the University of London, while his nephew, George, was a Liberal politician. He was educated at Winchester<ref name=ODNB>Template:ODNB</ref> and Trinity College, Cambridge.<ref>Template:Acad</ref> In 1819 he was called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn.<ref name=ODNB/>

Political career

Charles Shaw-Lefevre as Speaker of the House of Commons, by Martin Archer Shee.

A Whig, he was Member of Parliament for Downton from 1830 to 1831,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> for Hampshire from 1831 to 1832<ref name="rayment">Template:Cite web</ref> and for North Hampshire from 1832 to 1857.<ref name="rayment"/> During the 1830s he was chairman of a committee on petitions for private bills and of a committee on agricultural distress. His report from the latter position was not accepted by the House of Commons but was published as a pamphlet addressed to his constituents. He acquired, says the Encyclopædia Britannica, "a high reputation in the House of Commons for his judicial fairness, combined with singular tact and courtesy." When James Abercromby retired as Speaker of the House of Commons in 1839, Shaw-Lefevre was put forward as the Whig candidate and defeated the Tory candidate Henry Goulburn by 317 votes to 299.<ref name="Britannica">{{#if: | 

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Shaw-Lefevre remained speaker until 1857, by which time he was second-longest-serving speaker ever, after Arthur Onslow, who held the post for more than 33 years.<ref name="Britannica"/> On his retirement in 1857 he was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Eversley, of Heckfield in the County of Southampton.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He attended the House of Lords infrequently, with his last recorded speech in July 1873.<ref>Template:Hansard-contribs</ref>

Other work

Shaw-Lefevre was director of the insurance company Sun Fire Office from 1815 to 1841, Recorder of Basingstoke 1823–35, and Chairman of Hampshire Quarter Sessions 1850–79. He also served in his father's North Hampshire Yeomanry Cavalry as a lieutenant in 1821, and was Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant in 1823–27 and 1831–68, when he became its Honorary Lt-Col.<ref>History of Parliament Charles Shaw-Lefevre</ref><ref>Army List, various dates.</ref>

In 1857 he was appointed Governor of the Isle of Wight, which he remained until 1888.Template:Citation needed He was also an ecclesiastical commissioner and a trustee of the British Museum.<ref name="Britannica"/> In 1885 he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB).<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Family

Lord Eversley married Emma Laura (d. 1857), daughter of Samuel Whitbread and Lady Elizabeth Grey, in 1817.<ref name=ODNB/> They had three sons, who all died in infancy, and two daughters.<ref name=ODNB/> The family lived at Heckfield Place in Hampshire, which was previously the seat of his maternal grandfather. Lady Eversley died in June 1857. Lord Eversley survived her by over thirty years and died in December 1888, aged 94. He is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, London.<ref name=Paths>Template:Cite book</ref> As he had no surviving sons, the title became extinct on his death. The Eversley title was revived in 1906 in favour of his nephew, George Shaw-Lefevre.<ref name="Britannica"/>

Arms

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References

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  • F. M. G. Willson, A Strong Supporting Cast: The Shaw Lefevres, 1789-1936 (The Athlone Press, 1993)

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