# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Erle, William

​ERLE, Sir WILLIAM (1793–1880), judge, son of the Rev. Christopher Erle of Gillingham, Dorsetshire, by Margaret, daughter of Thomas Bowles of Shaftesbury in the same county, a relative of the poet William Lisle Bowles, born at Fifehead-Magdalen, Dorsetshire, on 1 Oct. 1793, was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, where he graduated B.C.L. in 1818, and held a fellowship until 1834. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple on 26 Nov. 1819. His circuit was the western. Here he slowly acquired a reputation for thoroughness rather than brilliancy, and a fair share of remunerative practice. He was admitted a member of the Inner Temple on 11 June 1822, and became a bencher of that society on 18 Nov. 1834. He married in 1834 Amelia, eldest daughter of the Rev. Dr. Williams, warden of New College and prebendary of Winchester, thereby vacating his fellowship. The same ​year he took silk. He was returned to parliament in the liberal interest for the city of Oxford in 1837, but declined to seek re-election in 1841. He never spoke in the house, but voted steadily with his party. He was appointed counsel to the Bank of England in 1844. He accepted a puisne judgeship of the common pleas from Lord Lyndhurst in 1844, when he became serjeant-at-law and was knighted. He was transferred to the queen's bench in the following year, and on 24 June 1859 succeeded Cockburn (raised to the lord chief justiceship of England) as lord chief justice of the common pleas, being at the same time sworn of the privy council. He retired in 1866. On the last occasion of his sitting in court (26 Nov.) the attorney-general, Sir John Rolt, on behalf of the bar, expressed his sense of the great qualities of which Erle had given proof during his tenure of office, in terms so eulogistic that the judge, though naturally somewhat reserved and undemonstrative, was visibly moved. He was regarded as what lawyers call a ‘strong’ judge, i.e. he exhibited the power of rapidly grasping the material facts of a case, and coming to a decided conclusion upon their legal effect. There is no doubt that he aimed at strict impartiality, but at the same time he was very tenacious of his own opinion. His chief characteristic was masculine sense, his mind was lacking in flexibility and subtlety. His elocution was deliberate even to monotony, and his accent was slightly tinged with provincialism. His personal appearance was that of a country gentleman, his complexion being remarkably fresh and ruddy, his eyes keen and bright. He was a member of the Trades Union Commission of 1867, and appended to the report of the commissioners, published in 1868, a memorandum on the law relating to trades unions, which he published separately in the following year. It consists of two chapters treating respectively of the common and the statute law relating to the subject, and an appendix on certain leading cases and statutes, and is a very lucid exposition of the law as it then stood. During the rest of his life Erle resided chiefly at his modest seat, Bramshott, near Liphook, Hampshire, interesting himself in parochial and county affairs. Though no sportsman he was very fond of horses, dogs, and cattle. He died on 28 Jan. 1880, leaving no issue. Except the work above referred to, ‘The Law relating to Trades Unions,’ 1869–80, he seems to have written nothing.
J. M. R.