- William Shee
Sir William Shee QS (
24 June ,1804 – 1868) was anAnglo-Irish politician ,lawyer andjudge , the firstRoman Catholic judge to sit inEngland and Wales since theReformation .Early life and legal career
Shee was born in
Finchley . His father, Joseph, was amerchant fromThomastown ,County Kilkenny ,Ireland , his mother, Teresa "née" Darell. Nicholas Wiseman was a cousin. He was initially educated at the school for French refugees founded by theAbbé Carron in Somers Town and whereHughes Felicité Robert de Lamennais taught. In 1818 he joined Wiseman as a student at St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw. He also attendedEdinburgh University where he joinedThe Speculative Society . In 1823 he became a pupil ofThomas Chitty atLincoln's Inn and wascalled to the bar in 1828.Barker (2004)]Shee enjoyed a successful career as a
barrister , being madeserjeant-at-law in 1840, receiving apatent of precedence in 1845, and being appointed queen's serjeant in 1857. In 1837, he married Mary Gordon (died 1861) and their children includedGeorge Darell Shee and Henry Gordon SheeQC who became Recorder ofBurnley and a judge inSalford .Shee's famous cases as an advocate included the
Roupell case and leading the unsuccessful defence ofpoison er William Palmer in 1856. In the latter case the defence case suffered adverse comment from the judge because Shee had, against all rules and conventions of professional conduct, told thejury that he personally believed Palmer to be innocent. [Knott (1912) "p."267] He edited a great number of legal publications.Politics
:"See also ".
Shee was a champion of
Catholic Emancipation and addressed aprotestant rally held onPenenden Heath ,Maidstone as early as 24 November 1828. He failed in his first attempt to enter parliament at the 1847 general election for Marylebone but succeeded for Kilkenny County in 1852.He gave his
maiden speech on 12 November 1852 during the debate on theQueen's Speech . [Hansard 3, 123, 1852, 139–41] Shee became active in Irish tenants' rights.William Sharman Crawford having failed to be re-elected in 1852, Shee took charge of, and reintroduced, his Tenant Right Bill on 25 Novemer 1852. In December, he spoke in support of Sir Joseph Napier's Improvement Compensation Bill but both bills were rejected by aselect committee. Shee submitted an amended bill in Feruary 1854 but it fared poorly.In June 1854 he failed in a controversial motion for leave to introduce a bill to amend the laws on the political administration of the
Church of Ireland , and to increase funds for Irish religious education and church building. In 1855, discouraged in his exertions as to reform, Shee consulted with Sharman Crawford and drafted a new Tenants' Improvement Compensation Bill, addressing some of the objections of the select committee. It fared no better than his earlier efforts. Shee's failure cost him the support of his voters and he lost his seat in the 1857 general election.Shee was defeated in Kilkenny again in 1859 general election and declined judicial office in
Madras in 1860. He stood unsuccessfully in Stoke-on-Trent at aby-election in September 1862.Judge
On 19 December 1863, Shee was appointed judge of the
Queen's Bench , andknighted the following year. ["London Gazette ", 22 Dec 1863, 6645; "London Gazette", 14 June 1864, 3072] He was the first Roman Catholic judge in England since theGlorious Revolution of 1688 . Shee died fromapoplexy at his home inLondon .References
Bibliography
*Barker, G. F. R. (2004) " [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25285 Shee, Sir William (1804–1868)] ", rev. Hugh Mooney, "
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ", Oxford University Press, , accessed 24 July 2007 ODNBsub
*cite book | author=Knott, G. H. | title=The Trial of William Palmer | year=1912 | edition=Notable English Trials | location=Edinburgh | publisher=William Hodge & Co.
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