Charles James O'Donnell

Charles James O'Cahan O'Donnell (1849 – 3 December 1934)^[1] was an Irish colonial administrator, politician and a member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

O'Donnell was born in Donegal in 1849. He was educated at Queens College Galway, and passed the Indian Civil Service Examinations in 1870. He served in Bengal and dealt with the famine of 1874. His duties also included tenant rights and judicial control of rents. He was appointed assistant to the Director General of Statistics in 1875 but returned to district work as a joint magistrate in 1884. He was the Superintendent of Bengal for the census of 1891, and rose to Commissioner in 1898 before his retirement in 1900.

O'Donnell had a palpable dislike of Lord Curzon as Viceroy of India, addressing "The Failure of Lord Curzon" to Lord Rosebery. Elected as a Liberal member for Walworth in the 1906 general election,^[2] O'Donnell was to level heavy criticism at the Secretary of State for British measures in India such as the partition of Bengal. He decided not to contest the January 1910 general election.^[2]

He was the brother of Frank Hugh O'Donnell. He married Constance Langworth in 1882. O'Donnell died at Hans Crescent, London, in December 1934.

References

1. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 1)
2. ^ ^{a b} Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 36. ISBN 0-900178-27-2. 

Sources

• The First World War in Irish Poetry
• The Statesman

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Charles James O'Donnell

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by James Bailey	Member of Parliament for Walworth 1906 – January 1910	Succeeded by James Arthur Dawes

Persondata
Name	Odonnell, Charles James
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1849
Place of birth
Date of death	3 December 1934
Place of death