Courtenay Peregrine Ilbert

“ The first important measure prepared by him as parliamentary counsel was the Irish Church Act of 1869 ; the last was Gladstone's Irish home rule bill of 1886. In the interval, among a host of other bills which did or did not find their way to the statute book, but which absorbed the time of the parliamentary counsel and his office, were the Irish Church Act of 1869, the Irish Land Act of 1871, and the Army Act of 1871, which was based on instructions given to Thring by Card well in 1867, and the labours on which, as its draftsman has remarked, lasted longer than the siege of Troy. ”

“ Then Gully was suggested as a 'safe' man, whom all the sections of the liberal party would support. The suggestion is said to have come from Henry Labouchere. Gully was adopted as the liberal candidate, and on 10 April he was elected against Sir Matthew White Ridley by a majority of eleven votes. The opposition resented their defeat, and it was intimated that in the event of an early change of government the unionist party, if return to power at a general election, would not feel bound to continue Gully as speaker in a new parliament. ”

“ On the liberal side Mr. Leonard Courtney (now Lord Courtney of Penwith) , who had been chairman of ways and means, was suggested by the cabinet. But his attitude on the Irish question and his somewhat brusque individualism were certain to alienate liberal and nationalist votes. ”

“ These were the duties taken over by Thring, and in his performance of them he appears to have drawn all the most important cabinet measures of the time. In his introduction to 'Practical Legislation' (1902) he described how he drew for Lord Derby's government the famous 'ten minutes' bill, the bill which, after radical alterations in parliament, became law as the Representation of the People Act, 1867. The story illustrates the conditions in which the work of drafting parliamentary bills is sometimes performed. ”

“ He had a country house at Englefield Green, in Surrey, and discharged his local duties by active membership of the Surrey county council and of the governing body of Holloway College. He also took a large part in the work of the council of the Imperial Institute and of the Athenæum club, where he was a well-known and popular figure. ”

“ Lord Salisbury became prime minister, parliament was dissolved on 8 July, and at the general election the unionist party obtained a large majority. Gully's seat at Carlisle was contested, but he succeeded in retaining it by an increased majority. ”