Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Charley, William Thomas
CHARLEY, Sir WILLIAM THOMAS (1833–1904), lawyer, born at Woodbourne, co. Antrim, on 6 March 1833, was youngest son of Matthew Charley (1788-1846) of Finaghy House, Belfast, by his wife Mary Anne, daughter of Walter Roberts of Collin House. He received his education at Elstree House School, Lee, Kent, and at St. John's College, Oxford, where he matriculated on 28 June 1856, graduating B.A. in 1856 and proceeding B.C.L. and D.C.L. by accumulation in 1868. Entering as a student at the Inner Temple on 3 June 1857, he was called to the bar on 9 June 1865. Though a fair lawyer and the editor of several text-books, Charley never obtained more than a moderate practice, for the most part carried on in Liverpool and Salford.
Charley was an active politician in the conservative interest all his life, and he took a prominent part in the reorganisation of the conservative party in the metropolis and Lancashire which accompanied the extension of the franchise in 1867. At the general election of Dec. 1868 he was returned as one of the conservative members for Salford, and he retained his seat in Feb. 1874. At the general election, however, of April 1880 he was defeated, and he was an unsuccessful candidate at Ipswich in 1883 and 1885. While in Parliament Charley was a constant speaker, and an out-and-out supporter of Disraeli, taking an especial interest in social and ecclesiastical questions, on which latter he held strong protestant views; he was the author of some useful measures, one of which, the Offences against the Persons Act of 1875, was the forerunner of the celebrated Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 for the better protection of young women and girls. Charley's election as common serjeant in April 1878 against a strong field of competitors occasioned, in view of his modest legal qualifications, general surprise in the profession. The result was the abolition in the Local Government Act of 1888 of 'the right claimed by the court of common council to appoint to the office of common serjeant,' which was thereby vested in the crown (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41, s. 42). Though he was knighted on 18 March 1880, and was made a Q.C. in the same year, his performance of his official duties was the cause of dissatisfaction, and he retired on a liberal pension of 1500?. in 1892. Charley was a vigorous defender of the Church of England and trustee of numerous church societies. His later years were largely devoted to lecturing on 'the higher criticism,' a subject for which his studies had imperfectly qualified him. An enthusiastic volunteer from the early days of the movement, he commanded the 3rd volunteer battalion of the royal fusiliers, the City of London regiment, retiring in 1889 with the rank of honorary colonel. He rode at the head of his old regiment at the annual inspection in Hyde Park a few weeks before his death, which took place suddenly in the Literary Institute at East Grinstead, Sussex, on 8 July 1904. He was buried at East Grinstead cemetery.
Charley married in April 1890 Clara, daughter of F. G. Harbord of Kirby Park, Cheshire; there was no issue. Charley edited reports of cases determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature, 1876, and was author of a treatise on the 'Real Property Acts, 1874-5' (3rd edit. 1876); 'The New System of Practice and Pleading' (1877); 'The Crusade against the Constitution, an Historical Vindication of the House of Lords' (1895); 'Mending and Ending the House of Lords' (1900); and 'The Holy City, Athens, and Egypt 2 (1902).
[Men and Women of the Time; Foster's Baronetcy; Foster's Men at the Bar; The Times, 9 July 1904; private information.]