page_title: John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey
section_title: Barrister and judge
hierarchical_section_title: John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey / Biography / Barrister and judge
caption_attribution_description: Judges No.51: Caricature of Mr Justice JC Bigham. Caption reads: "We Shall See"
context_page_description: John Charles Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey, PC was a British jurist and politician. After early success as a lawyer, and a less successful spell as a politician, he was appointed a judge, working in commercial law.
  After his retirement, Mersey remained active in public affairs, and is probably best remembered for heading the official Board of Trade inquiries into the sinking of steamships, most notably the RMS Titanic, the RMS Lusitania, and the RMS Empress of Ireland.
context_section_description: In 1883, Bigham was named a Queen's Counsel. His commercial practice prospered. In 1885, he tried his hand at politics, standing as a Liberal candidate for Parliament at the Liverpool constituency of East Toxteth, but lost. In 1892, he stood unsuccessfully in another Liverpool seat, the Exchange constituency. He was finally elected at his third attempt in 1895, standing as a Liberal Unionist. He was never able to make a great political impact, and his interest in politics was less than his interest in his legal work, which continued to flourish. During his last decade as a barrister, he was so in demand that he became one of the richest lawyers in his circle.
  In October 1897, Bigham was named a judge to the Queen's Bench,
  continuing his work in business law, and disqualifying him being an MP. He was knighted the following month.
  He presided over the railway and canal commission of 1904, worked in the bankruptcy courts, and reviewed courts-martial sentences handed down during the Second Boer War. He was appointed President of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division in 1909, but found the divorce work unfulfilling and retired in 1910. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Mersey, of Toxteth in the County Palatine of Lancaster, in the same year.
caption: Bigham caricatured by Spy for Vanity Fair, 1898
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