SIR JOHN KARSLAKE


This House is named after Sir John Burgess Karslake, the
eminent lawyer, born in 1821. Educated at Harrow, he was
called to the Bar in 1846, and joined the Western Circuit.
He was appointed a Queens Counsel in 1861, and Solicitor
General and Knighted in 1866. The following year he became
Attorney General.

He was elected Member of Parliament for Andover and held
his seat and his office until the Conservative ministry fell
in 1868. He was out of Parliament until 1873, when he was
chosen at a bye election at Huntingdon. He resumed his
office under Disraeli in 1874, but failing sight compelled him
to resign his office in April 1875, and then his seat in
Parliament in 1876, when he was sworn in as a member of
the Privy Council.

A very finished speaker, he had enjoyed a large and lucrative
practice at the bar, and was an effective parliamentary
debater, but his untiring efforts undermined his strength,
and after a long illness he died unmarried at his London house
at 7 Chester Square on 4th October 1881.

He revised for publication the book 'The Chase of the Wild
Red Deer' written by his friend Mr. C. Collyns, and has even
erroneously been reported to have been its author.

(Ex D.N.B.)