Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Mathews, Charles Willie

4178077Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement — Mathews, Charles Willie1927Frank Douglas Mackinnon

MATHEWS, Sir CHARLES WILLIE, baronet (1850–1920), lawyer, was born in New York 16 October 1850, the son of William and Elizabeth West. His mother, who was an actress at Burton's Theatre, New York, known on the stage as Lizzie Weston, married secondly A. H. Davenport, an actor, and thirdly (in 1858), as his second wife, Charles James Mathews [q.v.], the actor and dramatist. Her son assumed his second stepfather's name by deed-poll. He was educated at Eton. On leaving school he became a pupil of Montagu Stephen Williams [q.v.], the criminal lawyer, who has left on record that Mathews was the best pupil he ever had. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple 30 April 1872, and began practice at 5 Crown Office Row, whence he moved in 1880 to 1 Essex Court. His work was chiefly in criminal cases at the Old Bailey, and on the Western circuit, though he also appeared in a good many sensational civil cases. In 1886 he was appointed one of the two junior Treasury counsel at the Old Bailey, and in 1888 one of the senior. In 1892 he stood for parliament unsuccessfully at Winchester as a liberal. In 1893 he was made recorder of Salisbury, and in 1901 a bencher of the Middle Temple. In 1907, on the occasion of the opening of the new central criminal court by the King, he was made a knight. In 1908 he was appointed director of public prosecutions, an office which he discharged until his death with ability and discretion. In 1911 he was made a K.C.B., and in 1917 a baronet. He died at a nursing home in London on 6 June 1920.

Mathews was pre-eminently what newspapers call a ‘famous’ lawyer, for he always appeared in criminal trials, or in notorious civil cases. He was learned in criminal law, an adroit advocate and cross-examiner, and a fluent speaker who had claims to be called really eloquent, though his style was histrionic, and he was hampered by a weak and unpleasing voice. He was a small man, with a dapper figure, and a precise manner. He was fond of riding, and of horses, and liked to attend race-meetings when he could. Socially ‘Willie’ Mathews, as he was familiarly known, was exceedingly popular, and his popularity extended to much wider circles than might be suggested by his membership of the Turf, the Garrick, and the Beefsteak clubs. There, and anywhere, he was an animated talker, always ready with some anecdote, in telling which he could act, as well as narrate. He was a modest man: he was once offered a brief before the Privy Council; he crept in to watch that tribunal at work, and then asked the solicitors to allow him to decline the brief as he did not consider himself equipped for the task.

Mathews married in 1888 Lucy, daughter of Lindsay Sloper, musician, who survived him. They had no children.

[The Times, 7 June 1920; Law Journal, 12 June 1920; Law Lists; private information.]

F. D. M.