Henry Matthews, 1st Viscount Llandaff
Henry Matthews, 1st Viscount Llandaff PC QC (born January 13, 1826 in Ceylon , † April 3, 1913 in London ) was a British lawyer and Conservative Party politician who was a member of the House between 1868 and 1874 and again from 1886 to 1895 of Commons and served as Minister of the Interior from 1886 to 1892 . The murders of the so-called " Jack the Ripper " occurred during his tenure . In 1895 he was raised to the hereditary nobility as Viscount Llandaff and was a member of the House of Lords until his death .
Life
Lawyer and Member of the House of Commons
Matthews was the son of Henry Matthews, who served as a judge in Ceylon, and his wife Emma Blount. After attending school, he began an undergraduate degree at the University of Paris , which he completed in 1847 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the University of London . A subsequent postgraduate study of law at the University of London he completed in 1849 with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.). After his admission to the bar ( Inns of Court ) of Lincoln's Inn , he took up a position as a barrister in 1850 . In the meantime, he served 1864-1869 as secretary of Earl Marshal Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk and was for his legal services in 1868 to Attorney General (Queen's Counsel) appointed.
On November 17, 1868 Matthews was elected as a candidate of the Conservative Party for the first time to a member of the House of Commons and initially represented the constituency of Dungarvan until January 31, 1874 . After he had worked as a lawyer for several years, he was elected as a candidate for the Conservative Tories on July 1, 1886, as a member of the House of Commons and represented the constituency of Birmingham East there until July 13, 1895 .
As a MP, Matthews was instrumental in the process of the divorce scandal surrounding liberal politician Charles Dilke, 2nd Baronet, 1885. His cross-examination tactics led Dilke to resign as President of the Local Government Board and his MP resigned.
Home Secretary, Jack the Ripper and House of Lords
Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury , appointed Matthews Home Secretary on August 3, 1886 , and held that office until the end of his term on August 15, 1892. At the same time he became a member of the Privy Council in 1886 .
During his tenure as Home Secretary fell in the fall of 1888, the murders of Jack the Ripper , to whom the murders of at least five prostitutes in the East End of London are attributed. Police under the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis , Charles Warren , failed to catch the man. Warren countered the constant criticism of the press in an unwise manner by public support of vigilante groups. Since he was also as a liberal in conflict with the Home Office ( Home Office ) under Matthews, which led to constant intrigue in his office, Warren resigned on November 9, 1888 and resigned from the police force.
Matthews also spoke out against the death penalty , but avoided, for example, an intervention in favor of the convicted Polish - Jewish murderer Israel Lipski , so that he was hanged on August 21, 1887 in the courtyard of Newgate Prison .
After retiring from the House of Matthews was a Letters Patent of 5 August 1892 as Viscount Llandaff , of Hereford , in the County of Hereford in the hereditary nobility collected and was until his death the House of Lords as a member. Since he remained unmarried and died childless, his title of nobility expired on his death.
Web links
- Henry Matthews, 1st Viscount Llandaff at Hansard (English)
- Entry in Cracroft's Peerage
- Entry in Leigh Rayment Peerage
- Henry Matthews, 1st and lst Viscount Llandaff on thepeerage.com , accessed August 19, 2015.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Ripper murders were filmed in the 1979 British- Canadian crime film Murder on the Thames by Bob Clark . The film combined elements of the historic Jack the Ripper crime with Arthur Conan Doyle's world-famous detective novel Sherlock Holmes , played here by Christopher Plummer . The role of Home Secretary Matthews was played by Geoffrey Russell .
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| New title created | Viscount Llandaff 1895-1913 |
Title expired |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Matthews, Henry, 1st Viscount Llandaff |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Matthews, Henry, 1st Viscount Llandaff, of Hereford, in the County of Hereford (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British Conservative Party politician, House of Commons member and peer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 13, 1826 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ceylon |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 3, 1913 |
| Place of death | London |