Charles Shaw-Lefevre
Charles Shaw-Lefevre (
22 February 1794 -
28 December 1888),
Speaker of the British House of Commons 1839-
57, was educated at
Winchester and Trinity College
Cambridge. He was the son-in-law of the sister of
Earl Grey, the Whig Prime Minister, which advanced his career greatly. A
Whig, he was MP for Downton
1830-
31, for
Hampshire 1831-
32, and for North Hampshire
1832-
57, when he was created
Viscount Eversley. He acquired, says the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, "a high reputation in the House of Commons for his judicial fairness, combined with singular tact and courtesy." By
1857 he was second-longest-serving Speaker ever, after
Arthur Onslow, who held the post for more than 33 years. He was the elder brother of Sir John Shaw-Lefevre, a senior civil servant and one of the founders of the
University of London.