Sir Frank Lockwood | |
|---|---|
 Frank Lockwood c.1890 | |
| Member of Parliament forYork | |
| In office 18 December 1885 – 18 December 1897 | |
| Preceded by | Frederick Milner Ralph Creyke |
| Succeeded by | John Butcher Charles Beresford |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1846-07-15)15 July 1846 |
| Died | 18 December 1897(1897-12-18) (aged 51) London,County of London, England |
| Political party | Liberal |
Sir Frank Lockwood,QC (15 July 1846 – 18 December 1897) was anEnglishlawyer andLiberal Party politician who sat in theHouse of Commons as MP forCity of York from 1885 to 1897.
Lockwood was born inDoncaster, the son of Charles Day Lockwood. His great-grandfather Joseph Lockwood (c. 1758–1837) was twice mayor of Doncaster, and his grandfather was for many years judge on the racecourse.[1] Lockwood was educated at a private school, atManchester Grammar School, andCaius College, Cambridge.[2][3]
Lockwood was called to the bar atLincoln's Inn in 1872, and joined the old midland circuit, afterwards going to the north-eastern, making in his first year 120 guineas and in the next 265 guineas. From that time he had a career of uninterrupted success,[3] a high-profile brief being the defence of the murdererCharles Peace in 1879. In 1880 he was a member of a Royal Commission to enquire into Corrupt Practices at Chester. He was made aQueen's Counsel in 1882 and in 1884 he was made recorder of Sheffield.[4]
Lockwood made two unsuccessful attempts to enter parliament, the one atKing's Lynn at the1880 general election,[5] the other atYork atby-election in 1883.[6] He was elected LiberalMember of Parliament (MP) for York at the1885 general election and held the seat until his death in 1897.[7] In 1894 he becamesolicitor-general inLord Rosebery's ministry, and was knighted. He was solicitor-general for less than a year.[3] During this period he prosecuted the murdererJames Canham Read.[8]
In May 1895 Lockwood was lead counsel for the prosecution in Regina v. Oscar Wilde. The Liberal government seemed determined to secure a successful prosecution. Edward Carson, who had successfully defended the Marquess of Queensberry against Wilde's misguided criminal libel, approached Frank Lockwood and asked "Can we not let up on the fellow now?". Lockwood answered that he would like to do so, but feared that the case had become too politicised to be dropped.
In 1896 Lockwood accompaniedLord Chief Justice Russell and barrister Montague Hughes Crackanthorpe to theUnited States to attend the nineteenth meeting of theAmerican Bar Association as specially invited representatives of the English bar. On the trip he sustained the reputation which he enjoyed in England as a humorousafter-dinner speaker, and helped to strengthen the bond of friendship between the bench and bar of the United States and the bench and bar of England.[3]
Lockwood's uncleHenry Francis Lockwood was an architect and his father a talented draughtsman. Lockwood also had a skill at drawing, which he used to amuse himself and his friends, by making caricatures in pen and ink, and sketches of humorous incidents, real or imaginary, relating to the topic nearest at hand.[3] He illustrated C. J. Darling'sScintillae Juris in 1889 and contributed toPunch from 1893 to 1897. An exhibition of his work was held in London in March 1889. He was also author ofThe Law and Lawyers of Pickwick published in 1894.
Lockwood lived at Cober Hill,Cloughton, nearScarborough, North Yorkshire. He died inLondon at the age of 51.
Lockwood married Julia Rosetta Salis Schwabe, daughter of Salis andJulia Schwabe of Manchester and Glyn-y-Garth, Anglesey, on 3 September 1874. His wife was the sister of fellow MPGeorge Salis-Schwabe and the daughter of the educationalistJulia Schwabe.[9]
Lockwood was the brother-in-law of the 21stMacLean of Lochbuie and there is a small island off the coast ofMull in Scotland nearLochbuie named after him.[10]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lockwood, Sir Frank".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 855.
Media related toFrank Lockwood (politician) at Wikimedia Commons
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forYork 1885–1897 With:Alfred Pease 1885–1892 John Butcher 1892–1897 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Solicitor General 1894–1895 | Succeeded by |
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