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Charles Augustus Vansittart Conybeare (1 June 1853 – 18 February 1919) was an English barrister and a radical Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1895.
Family and pedigree
[edit]Conybeare was born on 1 June 1853 in Kew, in the sub-district of Richmond, Surrey[1]. His father was John Charles Conybeare (b. Cropredy, Oxfordshire, 1819-1884)[2]), of The Green, Kew, a wealthy barrister and Katherine Mary Vansittart (b. 1828-, Berkshire[3]). Charles A. V. Conybeare was the grandson of geologist William Daniel Conybeare FRS and the great grandson of Dr William Conybeare, rector of Bishopsgate. Charles Conybeare was the eldest of four sons in a family of seven children. His elder sisters were Georgiana E. Conybeare (3) and Katherine A.M. Conybeare (2).
Education (1861-1880)
[edit]By 1861, he had moved with the family from Kew to Grange in Coulsdon, in the sub-district of Croyden, Surrey,[2] a household with six domestic servants. At that time, Charles Conybeare, aged 7, was being brought up in a household employing a 19-year-old German governess, Sophia Maurer.[2] By 1871, the Conybeare family had moved to Dry Hill, Tonbridge, Kent, a move that had probably taken place earlier in around 1868, to enable John Charles Conybeare to send three of his sons, Charles A.V., Henry G.M. and William J.S., to be formally educated as day boys at Tonbridge School, a public school founded in Kent in 1553. While at Tonbridge, Charles Conybeare met six of the Pattisson brothers there including James Jollie Pattisson, from whom he would later borrow money.<ref...?</ref>. In that year, Charles's sisters Katherine (20, spinster), Georgina (19, spinster) and now Clara (6) and his brothers William, Frederick and Harry were all present in the household on Census day.[4]
Oxford University
[edit]In 1872, Charles Conybeare won the Smythe Exhibition to Christ Church College, Oxford, where he excelled academically, gaining a first class honours degree in Classical Moderations (logic, Aristotle's poems, Greek drama and Latin lit. & prose) and a 2nd class BA in Lit. Hum. (Literae Humaniores) in 1876. He was also a fine fencer, winning the 'Prize Foils' competition at the Oxford Gymnasium. According to a letter written to his father, while Charles Conybeare was an undergraduate at Oxford, had had been involved in some "rowdy scenes" during the Oxford election of 1874, and had been given a warning by the University authorities.[5] It was at Christ Church, while a Late Junior student, that he started work on an English essay entitled The Place of Iceland in the History of European Institutions, which was to win him the Lothian Prize in 1877.[3] [6]
Manchester Grammar School
[edit]Between 1877 and 1878, Conybeare was assistant master at Manchester Grammar School.[7]
Barrister
[edit]In 1881, while Conybeare was still living in his retired parents' home, St Leonard's Grange, Back Lane, Fryerning, nr. Ingatestone, Essex,[8] he was called to the bar Gray's Inn.[7] He had chambers in 40 Chancery Lane, London.
Lawsuits
[edit]In 1882, Charles Conybeare was was involved in two law suits. One was a Chancery suit, the other a libel suit. The two civil actions were interlinked and were both funded by his father, John Charles Conybeare.[9]
1. Chancery suit
In January 1880, Charles A.V. Conybeare commenced a Chancery suit at the request of his father, John Charles Conybeare. The suit involved the non-payment of £40,000 to the trustees for their work in reorganising the bankrupt Atlantic and Great Western Railway into the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railway (NYP&O), a company in which Charles Conybeare's father had had a substantial interest. A year earlier, at a Bondholders' Meeting in December 1879, the majority of bondholders present voted on a resolution to pay the trustees £40,000. Although John Charles Conybeare had sold almost all his bonds by that time—he and his son were both still bondholders—he claimed that the amount payable to the trustees did not correspond with the amount referred to in a deed that he had drawn up in 1875, while chairman of the Bondholder's Protection Committee. After objecting to the payment at one of the meetings, Charles A.V. Conybeare used an injunction to block payment to the trustees, who, as a result, had not received payment for their services.
2. Libel suit: Conybeare v. Yates
As a result of Charles Conybeare's decision to block payment to the trustees of the NYP&O, the World newspaper published an article in February 1881 describing Conybeare as "one cross-grained and ill-conditioned splutterer", who, "had plunged into a sea of litigation", and "being the happy possessor of one bond of ₤26", had prevented the trustees from receiving the payment that had been voted to them in 1879. Moreover, he had done so, claiming to represent the other bondholders. In response to the alleged libel, Charles Conybeare Jnr brought an action against the World for printing libellous statements concerning his unrepresentative blocking of the trust fund and for his litigious behaviour. A year later, the libel case was heard before Lord John Duke Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice of England, in the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, on 20 February 1882. Charles A.V. Conybeare appeared as the plaintiff, while Yates appeared as the defendant representing the World newspaper.
Case for the Defence
The defendant, represented by MR C. RUSSELL, QC and MR F. LEWIS, argued that what it had published was a matter of "fair comment and discussion", and was in substance true.[note 1] One shilling was paid by the defendant to the court as nominal damages "for any excess".
Case for the Plaintiff
MR DAY, QC, argued the case for the plaintiff, which was that the World newspaper had allowed malicious comments to be published about the plaintiff, and in doing so had insulted him, had not being willing to divulge who had actually written the article, and that the plaintiff had never received an apology from the publisher for the libellous statements about his character. This was compounded by the fact that Conybeare had only been offered one shilling by the newspaper for the libel, leaving the plaintiff "no alternative but to bring this action to vindicate his character".
LORD COLERIDGE asked counsel for the plaintiff how accusing Conybeare of opposing the payment of the trustees was 'libellous', when it was his legal right to do so?
MR WILLIS, QC, for the plaintiff, replied that it would be libellous to claim that he had done so unfairly and unjustly.
John Charles Conybeare gave evidence and informed the court that he had sold £50,000 worth of bonds in 1875, and further bonds in 1879, and that he was no longer Chairman of the Bondholders Protection Committee. In addition, the witness had gifted his son with "a bond of every class" from his own portfolio so as to enable his son to be entitled to raise an objection about the remuneration of the trustees at one of the bondholders' meetings, which he duly did. The plaintiff (his son) had then instructed his solicitor to take out a court injunction to prevent any monies being paid out of the trust fund. Conybeare Snr admitted that he was taking this court action through his son on account of his health, and purely in the interests of bondholders and not out of self-interest, as he currently only held four bonds worth less than ₤26 each.
Summing up
JUDGE COLERIDGE said that the words "cross-grained splutterer etc" were prima facie libellous, but as the occasion was priviledged"[note 2], they would not be actionable unless used maliciously, which the jury had to decide given all the circumstances. The jury were asked to consider the following issues:
1. Was there malice?
2. Was the libel true in substance, with the exception of the words for which one shilling had been paid into the court?
3. As regards the payment of one shilling to the court, did the jury consider that amount enough?
After a brief consultation, the jury said they thought the shilling, if anything, was rather too much. (laughter in the courtroom). After further consultation, the jury decided that there had been "no malice in the article" and that "the article was true in substance" (except for the words referred to), and that "the shilling paid was sufficient payment for having expressed such words".
His Lordship gave judgment in favour of the defendant (Yates), and ordered the plaintiff to pay the defendant's court costs post haste, in order, he said, to reflect what he regarded as "the most unreasonable character of the action".
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Imprisoned in Derry Jail
[edit]In 1885, Conybeare was elected as a radical Liberal MP for Camborne.[10] Conybeare supported Keir Hardie. In 1889, Conybeare was imprisoned in Derry Jail for helping to distribute bread to destitute, evicted Irish tenants at Falcarragh, Donegal, which was regarded then as a criminal act under the Irish Coercion Act of 1887.[11]
Clubs & Interests
[edit]Conybeare was interested in women's suffrage and was a member of the Men's League for Women's Suffrage.[12] He lost his seat in 1895 and failed in his attempt to be elected at St Helens in 1900.
Marriage
[edit]Charles Conybeare married Florence Annie Strauss, the daughter of a Bohemian glass merchant, on 15 October 1896, at the Theistic Church in Piccadilly, London. She was an active member of the Women's Suffragette Movement.[13]
Lived in Tregullow House
[edit]The couple began their married life in a spacious apartment at 3 Carlyle Gardens, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London. Charles Conybeare owned or leased Tregullow House, a country pile in Scorrier, Cornwall,[14] that had been passed down through the Williams family, a well-known local family that had made their fortune in the mining of tin and copper.
Miners' friend
[edit]While an MP for Camborne, Conybeare, who was nicknamed the "Miners' Friend",[15] proposed changes to mining legislation including: (a) changes to the Stannaries Act, aimed at ending the system whereby miners had their pay shared out in a public house, and at protecting miners from mine agents who randomly broke contracts of employment, (b) renewal of China-clay leases and (c) the introduction of a mines' inspector drawn from working miners, aimed at reducing the mortality in Cornish mines, which was higher among Cornish miners due to "unsanitary conditions".[16]
Marriage settlement
[edit]Charles and Florence Conybeare were the co-beneficial owners of a property known as the Tregullow Offices, which Charles Conybeare bought in 1889 from the Williams family (mining moguls), and which he mortgaged in 1891 in order to raise some capital required for a marriage settlement. The financing of this marriage settlement, which effectively entitled Florence to half the value of the property in the event of desertion or divorce, was managed by Isaac Seligman, a wealthy and prominent German-born merchant banker based in London. The couple sold the property in 1902 to a Charles Rule Williams (no relation to the Williams mining mogul family), a retired mining engineer who renamed it Zimapan Villa [note 3]
Oakfield Park
[edit]Conybeare owned Oakfield Park (the house) until the death of his wife Florence Annie in February 1916. Conybeare bought or leased the property which was situated within the grounds and estate of Oakfield Park. [17]
Death
[edit]Conybeare moved away from Dartford to live in Bexley, Kent, after the death of his wife. He died in Brogueswood, Biddenden, Kent, 44 miles from Bexley, on 18 February, aged 65 [18] He was buried in the cemetery of St Mary the Virgin Church, Fryerning, near Ingatestone, Essex, close to his parents, but in the same tomb-memorial he had erected for Florence three years earlier.
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Endnotes
[edit]- ^ The defence of 'fair comment', if upheld by the courts, would negate any legal case for libel.
- ^ The defence of priviledge in the law of libel is founded on the theory that sometimes the individual's right to protection of his reputation has to yield to the rights of others, where, for example, the inconvenience arising from the injury to private character outweighs the convenience of publicity. Davison v. Duncan (1857). See: Preserving Liberty of the Press by the Defense of Privilege in Libel Actions, published by John M. Hall, California Law Review, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Jan., 1938), pp. 226-239.
- ^ The 1902 Indenture in which the "Tregullow Offices" (later Zimapan Villa) are sold by Conybeare and his wife on 21 July 1902: copy of document on www.zimapanners.com by Peter King Smith.
References
[edit]- ^ Birth Certificate, 12 Jun 1853, GRO.
- ^ a b c 1861 England Census, Ancestry.com.
- ^ a b Debrett's Guide to the House of Commons 1886
- ^ The 1871 England Census, Ancestry.com.
- ^ Letter Charles wrote to his father, who then sent it to Sir William Harcourt in 1874. The Harcourt Papers, MS Harcourt 205, fols. 29-30, Bodleian Library, Oxford.
- ^ Who's Who & Who Was Who, 2009, consulted 3 March 2009, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
- ^ a b Tonbridge School Register p. 139.
- ^ The 1881 English Census, Ancestry.com.
- ^ From Conybeare v. Yates, published in the Law Report of 20 February 1882, and then in The Times on 21 February 1882, adapted by Peter King Smith [www.zimapanners.com].
- ^ Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Charles Augustus Vansittart Conybeare
- ^ The Times, 1889
- ^ Elizabeth Crawford The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928 UCL Press, 1999 p. 121.
- ^ Marriage Certificate; The Zimapanners: the history of a Cornish mine office and includes biographies of its owners, former occupiers and those who had a legal interest in it, by Peter King Smith.
- ^ The 1891 England Census: www.zimapanners.com by Peter King Smith.
- ^ Redruth Town Trail http://www.chycor.co.uk/redruth/page3.htm
- ^ The West Briton & Cornwall Advertiser (a) 26 May 1887 (b) 14 Jul 1887 (c) 17 Feb 1887: www.zimapanners.com, by Peter King Smith.
- ^ Conybeare's obituary in the Dartford Chronicle, 1919, www.zimapanners.com by Peter King Smith.
- ^ Death certificate, www.zimapanners.com, by Peter King Smith.
Publications
[edit]- The Place of Iceland in The History of European Institutions Parker 1877
- Married Women's Property Acts with Andrews 1883.
- Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act 1884
Category:1853 births
Category:1919 deaths
Category:People educated at Tonbridge School
Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs
Category:UK MPs 1885–1886
Category:UK MPs 1886–1892
Category:UK MPs 1892–1895
Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Cornwall
Category:Scottish Labour Party (1888) politicians
Category:Members of the London School Board