# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Dilke, Charles Wentworth

​DILKE, Sir CHARLES WENTWORTH, second baronet (1843–1911), politician and author, born on 4 Sept. 1843 in the house in Sloane Street, London (No. 76), which his father had occupied and in which he himself lived and died, was elder son of Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, first baronet [q. v.]. Charles Wentworth Dilke [q. v.], the antiquary and critic, was his grandfather. His mother, Mary, daughter of William Chatfield, captain in the Madras cavalry, died on 16 Sept. 1853. His younger brother was Ashton Wentworth Dilke [q. v.], M.P. for Newcastle-on-Tyne from 1880 until his death in 1883.
Dilke, after being educated privately, became in 1862 a scholar of Trinity Hall, Cambridge his father's college. There (Sir) Leslie Stephen was his tutor. He graduated LL.B. as senior legalist, i.e. head of the law tripos, in 1866, and proceeded LL.M. in 1869. He was an active member of the Cambridge Union, serving twice as vice-president and twice as president. He was an enthusiastic oarsman and rowed in his college boat when it was head of the river. That recreation he pursued all his life. In later years he built himself a bungalow at Dockett Eddy near Shepperton and spent much of his time on the water. He was also a keen and capable fencer and frequently invited his friends to a bout with he foils at his house in Sloane Street. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple on 30 April 1866, but never practised. In 1866 Dilke left England for a tour round the world, beginning with a visit to the United States. Here he travelled alone for some months, but was subsequently joined by William Hepworth Dixon [q. v.] editor of the 'Athenæum,' the paper of which his father was proprietor. The two travelled together for some time, visiting the Mormon cities of Utah, but they parted at Salt Lake City, Dixon returning to England and Dilke continuing his journey westward, ​visiting San Francisco on his way to Panama. Thence he crossed the Pacific and visited all the Australasian colonies in turn. He returned home by way of Ceylon, India, and Egypt, reaching England at the end of 1867. In the following year he published the results of his studies and explorations in English-speaking and English-governed lands in a work entitled 'Greater Britain: a Record of Travel in English-speaking Countries during 1866 and 1867.' The book immediately achieved an immense success, and passed through four editions. The title, a novel and taking one, was Dilke's invention (see Murray's New Eng. Dict.), and the whole subject as treated by Dilke was as new as its title. 'The idea,' wrote Dilke in the Preface, 'which in all the length of my travels has been at once my fellow and my guide a key wherewith to unlock the hidden things of strange new lands is a conception, however imperfect, of the grandeur of our race, already girdling the earth, which it is destined, perhaps, to overspread.' Thus, while Dilke was an advanced radical through life, he was also from first to last a convinced and well-informed imperialist.
In 1868 the first general election took place under the Reform Act of the previous year. Dilke was selected by the radical party in the newly constituted borough of Chelsea, to which two members were allotted, as one of its two candidates. His colleague was Sir Henry Hoare, and their opponents were (Sir) William H. Russell [q. v. Suppl. II] and C. J. Freake. Dilke headed the poll on 17 Nov. with 7374 votes, Hoare receiving 7183, and Russell only 4177. He at once attracted the favourable notice of the party leaders and was chosen to second the address at the opening of the session of 1870. He joined the extreme nonconformists in opposition to Mr. Forster's education bill, and moved the amendment which the government accepted for the substitution of directly elected schoolboards in place of committees of boards of guardians. To the normal articles of the radical creed, Dilke added republican predilections, and he frankly challenged the monarchical form of government on many public platforms. He questioned whether monarchy was worth its cost. His statement at Newcastle on 6 Nov. 1871, in the course of an elaborate republican plea, that Queen Victoria paid no income tax excited a bitter controversy. At Bristol, Bolton, Derby, and Birmingham he pursued the propaganda, often amid scenes of disturbance. Heated protests against his attitude were raised in the House of Commons, where he moved on 19 March 1872 for a full inquiry into Queen Victoria's expenditure. His confession of republican faith was then echoed by Auberon Herbert [q. v. Suppl. II], who seconded his motion. A passionate retort followed from Gladstone, the prime minister. Sir Wilfrid Lawson and another were the only members who voted in support of Dilke's motion, for which he and Herbert told. Sharply opposed at Chelsea on the score of his advanced opinions at the next election in 1874, he yet was the only one of three liberal candidates who was elected. He polled 7217 votes, and the conservative candidate was returned as his colleague.
In 1869, on the death of his father, Dilke succeeded to the baronetcy and also to the then lucrative proprietorship of the 'Athenæum' and of 'Notes and Queries'—the former purchased and edited by his grandfather and the latter established by him in 1849—and to a part proprietorship of the 'Gardeners' Chronicle.' He always took an active interest in the conduct of the 'Athenæum' and frequently contributed to its columns, though except during the occasional absence of the responsible editor he never edited it himself. He collected for the press his grandfather's 'Papers of a Critic' (1875), chiefly contributions to the 'Athenæum.' In 1872 he married Katherine Mary Eliza, only daughter of Captain Arthur Gore Sheil.
Meanwhile he was a frequent visitor to Paris, where he became intimate with Gambetta and other republican leaders. He spoke French fluently, though not perhaps quite with the accent of a Parisian. French influence was apparent in his second literary venture, which was published anonymously in 1874. A thin brochure bound in white, it was entitled 'The Fall of Prince Florestan of Monaco.' It told the story of a light-hearted prince, educated at Eton and Cambridge, who was unexpectedly called to the sovereignty of Monaco. He at once set to work to put in action the liberal and reforming ideas he had imbibed at Cambridge, and soon found himself at loggerheads with his subjects, who were all catholics and led by a Jesuit priest. Foiled in his projects of reform, he abdicated and returned to Cambridge. The story was brightly written and displayed no little satiric humour which spared neither Dilke himself nor his radical contemporaries. It showed in Dilke a mood of genial banter and shrewd detachment from popular ​shibboleths which was otherwise so little in evidence that few suspected its existence. The book passed through three editions and was translated into French. Perhaps it was better appreciated in France than in England.
In 1874 Dilke's first wife died after giving birth to an only son, Charles Went worth Dilke, subsequently the third baronet. Next year Dilke made a second tour round the world, now visiting China and Japan, and thenceforth for many years he spent much leisure at a modest villa which he purchased near Toulon. At the same time during his second parliament (1874-80) he greatly improved his position. He became an effective speaker, and won the ear of the House of Commons (Lucy's Diary of Parliament, 1874-80, pp. 307-10). His radicalism lost nothing of its strength on shedding its republican features. He made an annual attack on unreformed corporations. On 4 March 1879 he seconded (Sir) George Trevelyan's resolution for extending the county franchise to the agricultural labourer, and on 31 March he moved on behalf of the liberal party a vote of censure on the government's South African policy. To the cause of Greece he proved himself a warm friend. At the general election of April 1880, Dilke for the third time headed the poll at Chelsea with 12,408 votes, carrying the second liberal candidate (Mr. J. B. Firth) in with him with 12,040 votes.
Before Gladstone returned to power in 1880, Dilke was an acknowledged leader of the radical section of his party. Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P. for Birmingham since June 1876, was his chief colleague. Gladstone, however, was very slowly persuaded of the importance of the radical leaders. At first 'he never dreamed of them for his cabinet.' When at length he sent for Dilke while forming his administration, he was annoyed by Dilke's refusal 'to serve unless either himself or Mr. Chamberlain were in the cabinet.' In the end, despite Dilke's superior position in public esteem, Mr. Chamberlain entered the cabinet as president of the board of trade, and Dilke remained outside as under-secretary to the foreign office (cf. Morley, Life of Gladstone, ii. 630).
Dilke's knowledge of foreign affairs was exceptional, and as representing the foreign office in the commons with his chief, Lord Granville in the lords, he enjoyed an influence little short of that of a cabinet minister not yet of the first rank. Of prodigious industry, he conducted the parliamentary business of his department with assiduity, courtesy, and discretion. In 1881-2 he served as chairman of a royal commission for the negotiation of a commercial treaty with France in conjunction with commissioners of the French government. He spent many months over this business, which was conducted in London and in Paris. Early in 1880 his growing reputation had led the Prince of Wales (afterwards Edward VII) to seek his acquaintance and a close intimacy between them lasted through the next four years. They met in Paris as well as at home, and at Paris, by the prince's request, while the commercial negotiations were in progress, Dilke invited his close friend Gambetta to join them at breakfast (24 Oct. 1881).
On Forster's retirement from the Irish secretaryship in April 1882 Dilke was offered the post, but he declined it on the ground that it did not carry with it a seat in the cabinet. Towards the close of the year the cabinet was partially reconstructed, and Dilke at last obtained a place in it as president of the local government board (8 Dec.). At the statutory election at Chelsea he was returned without a contest. There were rumours of reluctance on Queen Victoria's part to assent to Dilke's appointment, which great firmness on the part of the prime minister was needed to dispel (Annual Register, 1882, p. 180). In the House of Commons there was now a general belief that he was destined before long to lead his party (cf. Acton's Letters to Mary Gladstone). An indication of the public confidence which he commanded was shown by the bestowal on him of the freedom of the borough of Paisley (1 Nov. 1883). He had long given close attention to the problems of local government, and his tenure of office as president of the board was marked by much important legislation. In 1884 he presided as chairman over the royal commission on the housing of the working classes, of which the Prince of Wales, Lord Salisbury, and Cardinal Manning were members. He also took an active part in the negotiations which were initiated in that year by Queen Victoria between government and the opposition in the controversy over the Franchise Act of 1884 and the attendant redistribution of seats. By virtue of his office and by reason of what Lord Morley in his 'Life of Gladstone' called his 'unrivalled mastery of the intricate details' of the whole question of redistribution, he took charge of the redistribution bill and conducted it through the House of Commons with exceptional skill. ​ On 18 Jan. 1884 Dilke, Lord Granville, and Lord Northbrook met General Gordon with Lord Hartington and Lord Wolseley at the war office and they decided on behalf of the cabinet to send Gordon to the Soudan.
In 1885 the Gladstone ministry, externally weakened by the miscarriages of its Egyptian policy, and discredited by its failure to rescue Gordon, was also distracted almost to dissolution by internal dissensions arising out of its Irish policy. New bills for a partial renewal of the expiring Coercion Act, for land purchase and for local government in Ireland were before the cabinet early in 1885. Dilke and Mr. Chamberlain recommended a central administrative board, and resisted the other proposals without effect. On 19 May Gladstone announced in the House of Commons a land purchase bill. Thereupon Dilke and Mr. Chamberlain tendered their resignations. They were requested to reconsider them (Morley's Gladstone, iii. 194). But that necessity was spared them. An unexpected defeat on a proposed increase in the beer duties under the budget gave the whole cabinet an opportunity, which they eagerly welcomed, of resigning (8 June 1885). Neither Dilke nor Mr. Chamberlain had favoured the increase of the beer duties. He and Mr. Chamberlain projected under Parnell's auspices a tour in Ireland for the autumn. But Parnell's negotiations with the new conservative lord-lieutenant, the earl of Carnarvon, led him to withdraw his support, and the visit was abandoned. Dilke never again held office under the crown.
Dilke's fall was sudden and tragical. In August 1885 Mr. Donald Crawford, liberal M. P. for Lanark, filed a petition for divorce against his wife on the ground of her alleged adultery with Dilke. Mrs. Crawford was a sister of the wife of Dilke's only brother Ashton, and with her family he was on intimate terms. On the announcement of the charge, Dilke denied its truth in an open letter to the liberal association of Chelsea. The association accepted his disclaimer. He stood for the constituency — now a single member division — at the general election in Dec. 1885 and was returned by 4291 votes against 4116 cast for the conservative candidate. The divorce suit was heard on 12 Feb. 1886, when Mr. Crawford obtained a decree nisi against his wife, solely on the evidence of her confession. Dilke offered to deny on oath in the witness-box Mrs. Crawford's story, but his counsel declined to call him and his friends unwisely dissuaded him from insisting on being called The outcome of the suit was equivocal. The case against Dilke was dismissed, but Mrs. Crawford's guilt was declared proven on her own evidence, which inculpated none but him. In public opinion Dilke was not cleared of the allegations against him.
Meanwhile Dilke was not included in Gladstone's third administration (Feb. 1886), but he attended parliament as usual, and voted for Gladstone's home rule bill (7 June). His liberal friends at Chelsea expressed sympathy with him, and he stood again at the general election of July 1886. But he was defeated by 176 votes. His connection with the constituency was thus severed after eighteen years. Mainly owing to Dilke's representations to the queen's proctor, the divorce case was re-opened before the decree nisi was made absolute. The queen's proctor did not intervene directly on Dilke's behalf, and the application of both Dilke and Mrs. Crawford to plead in the suit was refused in Dilke's case on the ground that he had not given evidence at the first hearing (30 June). The second hearing began on 16 July 1886. Dilke and Mrs. Crawford both gave evidence at length and sustained a searching cross-examination. Mrs. Crawford acknowledged that she had committed adultery with a man not mentioned in her original confession, but withdrew none of her former charges against Dilke, and added odious details which were regarded by believers in Dilke's innocence to be inventions directed solely to prejudice. Dilke absolutely denied all the accusations. Finally the jury found that the original 'decree was obtained not contrary to the facts of the case and not by reason of material facts not having been brought before the court.' This amounted to a verdict against Dilke, and public opinion at large regarded the verdict as just. Dilke, however, maintained from the first and through the rest of his life the attitude and demeanour of an innocent man, and many, though not all, of his friends avowed and manifested their unshaken confidence in his honour and veracity.
Dilke bowed at once to the decision. To the electors of Chelsea he announced his withdrawal from public life; he pointed out the legal disadvantages under which he laboured at the second trial in being denied the status of a party to the proceedings, and at the same time he reasserted his innocence.
At the opening of these difficulties, on 3 Oct. 1885, Dilke married at Chelsea Emilia ​Francis, widow of Mark Pattison [q. v.; see Dilke, Emilia Francis, Lady, Suppl. II]. The marriage was singularly happy, and Dilke owed much to her affection and belief in his innocence. Although saddened, he was not soured nor corrupted by his political and social eclipse. On his retirement from parliament in Dilke returned with great zeal and industry to the study of those larger English and imperial problems which had engaged his attention at the outset of his career. In 1887 he published 'The Present Position of European Politics' (translated into French) and in 1888 'The British Army.' In 1890 appeared his 'Problems of Greater Britain' in two volumes, designed as a sequel to his earlier work on 'Greater Britain.' It was a treatise on the present position of Greater Britain in which special attention was given to the relations of the English-speaking countries with one another and to the comparative politics of the countries under British government. Foreign travel varied his occupation. He paid at least one annual visit to Paris, where his French friends always welcomed him with enthusiasm. In the autumn of he made a journey through the Near East, visiting Greece, the cause of which he had always championed, and Constantinople, where he was entertained by the Sultan. In the winter of 1888-9 he was the guest of Lord Roberts, commander of the forces in India, and attended with his host the military manoeuvres of the season.
In 1892 Dilke returned to public life as member of parliament for the Forest of Dean. The electors had convinced themselves of his innocence. He beat his conservative opponent after a contest by a large majority. He represented that constituency till his death, fighting the elections of 1900 and Jan. and Dec. 1910, but being returned without a contest in 1895 and 1906. Henceforth a private member, he did not speak frequently in the House of Commons. He confined himself almost entirely to industrial questions, to foreign and imperial affairs, and to the larger questions of policy involved in the navy and army estimates. On these subjects his authority was recognised, but his position in the house remained one of some aloofness. He enjoyed, however, the complete confidence of the labour party. He continued his literary work, publishing in 1898 a little volume on 'Imperial Defence' in co-operation with Mr. (now Professor) Spenser Wilkinson; and yet another work on the British Empire in the same year. Although he hospitably entertained his friends, he continued to be little seen in society. In Oct. 1904 the death of his wife gravely disabled him, and he prefixed a touching memoir to a work of hers, 'The Book of the Spiritual Life,' which appeared in 1905. In 1906 he served as chairman of the select committee on the income tax and drafted its report, some of the recommendations of which were subsequently embodied in legislation. In 1910 his health began to fail. After the exhausting session of that year he fought with success the general election of Dec. 1910 in the Forest of Dean. But he was unequal to the effort. He returned in Jan. 1911 from a brief vacation in the South of France only to die. He died of heart failure at his house in Sloane Street on 26 Jan. 1911, and his remains were cremated at Golder's Green. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his only son.
A portrait of Dilke by G. F. Watts was left to his trustees for presentation to a public institution. It is now on loan at the National Portrait Gallery. A caricature portrait appeared in 'Vanity Fair' in 1871.
Dilke owned a valuable collection of works of art, and he dedicated those which were of historic interest to public uses. He left by will the portrait by Watts of John Stuart Mill to the Westminster city council; the portrait by Madox Brown of Mr. and Mrs. Fawcett, and the portrait by Frank Holl of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, to the National Portrait Gallery; the portrait of Gambetta by Alphonse Legros went to the Luxemburg Museum in Paris. Most of the relics of Keats, which he inherited from his grandfather, were bequeathed to the Hampstead public library. His literary executor, Miss Gertrude Tuckwell, his second wife's niece, was warned, in preparing his political papers for the press, against seeking the assistance of 'anyone closely connected with either the liberal or conservative party.' His pictures by old masters, water-colour drawings, tapestries, and miniatures were sold by auction at Christie's on 7-8 April 1911. The 'Athenæum' and 'Notes and Queries' were, in accordance with the powers given by the trustees under Dilke's will, transferred in 1911 to the printer and publisher, Mr. John Collins Francis.
[Authorities mentioned in the text; obituary notices in the press, especially The Times, 27 Jan. 1911; Dilke's publications; Herbert Paul's History of Modern England; personal knowledge and private information.]
J. R. T.