Charles Adderley, 1st Baron Norton

Charles Bowyer Adderley, 1st Baron Norton KCMG PC DL JP (2 August 1814 – 28 March 1905) was a British Conservative politician.

The Lord Norton
President of the Board of Health
In office
8 March 1858 – 1 September 1858
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterThe Earl of Derby
Preceded byHon. William Cowper
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
In office
6 July 1866 – 1 December 1868
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterThe Earl of Derby
Benjamin Disraeli
Preceded byWilliam Edward Forster
Succeeded byWilliam Monsell
President of the Board of Trade
In office
21 February 1874 – 4 April 1878
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterBenjamin Disraeli
Preceded byChichester Parkinson-Fortescue
Succeeded byViscount Sandon
Personal details
Born2 August 1814 (1814-08-02)
Died28 March 1905 (1905-03-29) (aged 90)
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)Hon. Julia Leigh
(1820–1887)
Alma materChrist Church, Oxford
"Colonial Self-Government". Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1892.

Background and education

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Charles Bowyer Adderley was the eldest son of Charles Clement Adderley (d. 1818), offspring of an old Staffordshire family, and his wife, daughter of Sir Edmund Cradock-Hartopp, 1st Baronet.[1] Adderley inherited Hams Hall, Warwickshire, and the valuable estates of his great-uncle, Charles Bowyer Adderley, in 1826. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1838.[1]

Political career

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In 1841, Adderley entered the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for North Staffordshire, retaining his seat until 1878, when he was created Baron Norton.

Adderley's ministerial career began in 1858, when he was appointed President of the Board of Health and Vice-president of the Committee of the Council on Education in Lord Derby's short ministry.[1] Again under Lord Derby, he was Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1866 to 1868, being in charge of the act which created the new Dominion of Canada, and from 1874 to 1878, he was President of the Board of Trade.[2]

He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1858,[3] was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 1869 Birthday Honours,[4] and, in 1878, he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Norton, of Norton-on-the-Moors in the County of Stafford.[5]

Norton was a strong churchman and especially interested in education and the colonies.[2] He joined the Canterbury Association on 27 March 1848 and was a member of the management committee from the beginning. In 1852/53, he paid £500 towards the costs of the closure of the association.[6]

Sir Charles Adderley and John Arthur Roebuck were ridiculed by Matthew Arnold for their English complacency.[7]

Family

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In 1842 he married Julia Anne Eliza (1820–1887), oldest daughter of Chandos Leigh, 1st Baron Leigh, by whom he had several sons. His eldest son Charles Leigh Adderley succeeded him in the barony. Another son, the Hon. James Granville Adderley, vicar of Saltley, became well known as an advocate of Christian socialism.[2] His daughter Isabel married in 1876 Vauncey Harpur Crewe of Calke Abbey, later 10th Baronet.

Tributes

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Adderley Street is a famous street in Cape Town, South Africa, considered the main street of the central business district. In 1850, the Mayor of Cape Town, Hercules Jarvis, named it to honour Adderley who had fought successfully against a proposal to make Cape Town into a penal colony.

In Birmingham, Adderley donated 8 acres (0.032 km2) of land to create Adderley Park,[8] which he managed privately from 1855 to 1864. He also donated land for the construction of St Saviour's Church, Saltley, St Peter's College, Saltley and the reformatory on the Fordrough, later called Norton Boys' Home. In 1879 Lord Norton sold Whitacre Lodge to the city for the construction of the 80 acres (0.32 km2) Shustoke Reservoir, the largest single source of water for Birmingham until the Elan/Claerwen scheme was completed.[8]

In Uppingham, Rutland, where he owned property, both Adderley Street and Norton Street are named after him.

Adderley Head, a headland between Lyttelton Harbour and Port Levy, near Canterbury, New Zealand, is named after him.[6]

Arms

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Coat of arms of Charles Adderley, 1st Baron Norton
 
 
Crest
On a chapeau Azure turned up Ermine a stork Argent.
Escutcheon
Argent on a bend Azure three mascles of the field.
Supporters
On either side a stork Argent gorged with a chain Or suspended therefrom an escutcheon Azure charged with a mascle also Argent.
Motto
Addere Legi Justitiam Decus[9] ("It is an honour to combine law and justice.")

References

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  1. ^ a b c Dod, Robert P. (1860). The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Whitaker and Co. pp. 83–84.
  2. ^ a b c   One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Norton, Charles Bowyer Adderley, 1st Baron". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 797. This cites:
    • W.S. Childe-Pemberton, The Life of Lord Norton (1909).
  3. ^ The London Gazette, 26 February 1858
  4. ^ "No. 23512". The London Gazette. 1 July 1869. p. 3750.
  5. ^ The London Gazette, 16 April 1878
  6. ^ a b Blain, Rev. Michael (2007). The Canterbury Association (1848–1852): A Study of Its Members' Connections (PDF). Christchurch: Project Canterbury. pp. 9–10. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  7. ^ Machann, C. (1998). Matthew Arnold : A literary life. Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-0-312-21031-1.
  8. ^ a b "Adderley Estate". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011.
  9. ^ Burke's Peerage. 1949.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Staffordshire North
1841–1878
With: Jesse David Watts Russell 1841–1847
Viscount Brackley 1847–1851
Smith Child 1851–1859
Viscount Ingestre 1859–1865
Edward Manningham-Buller 1865–1874
Colin Minton Campbell 1874–1880
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by President of the Board of Health
1858
Office abolished
Preceded by Vice-President of the Committee on Education
1858
Succeeded by
Preceded by Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
1866–1868
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Board of Trade
1874–1878
Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Norton
1878–1905
Succeeded by
Charles Leigh Adderley