Francis Lawley

Francis Charles Lawley was a Victorian writer and journalist, most notably as a war correspondent during the American Civil War, reporting from the Confederate side. His reports were highly regarded and influential, not least in helping to shape Gladstone’s Southern-leaning views. He then became a prolific writer, especially on sports, including his major – and, as owner and gambler, financially disastrous – love, horseracing. For a brief period in the 1850s, he was also a Liberal MP.

Several of Lawley’s family, including his father, had been MPs, and he was a distant relative of the rising Gladstone, so a political career was a natural choice. As early as January 1847, Gladstone was noting in his diary that he had discussed with Lawley’s mother “Frank’s future prospects.”

Lawley’s admitted “passion for the Turf” had left him with huge debts, but this did not prevent him standing for Beverley as a Liberal in the July 1852 general election. Lawley espoused reformist policies such as free trade and an extension of the franchise, and he and his fellow Liberal, William Wells, were elected in a closely fought three-way contest.

When Derby’s short-lived Conservative administration fell that December, Gladstone, still then a Peelite – an anti-protectionist Conservative – became Chancellor of the Exchequer in the new Peelite-Liberal government. Over the Christmas period, he was in regular contact with Lawley about making him his private secretary. Thereafter, Gladstone’s diary records how regularly Lawley worked on his official business, and became his trusted confidant.

These quasi-ministerial duties probably constrained his independence, and Lawley was not very active in the House. Generally he voted for liberal policies, like free trade and abolition of public disabilities on Jews.

Lawley gave up his seat on 24 July 1854, when he was suddenly appointed governor-general of South Australia. This caused widespread suspicion, not just because of his relative youth and inexperience for such a post, but also because the Liberal candidate who replaced him in the swiftly-held Beverley by-election was Arthur Gordon, son of the Prime Minister, Lord Aberdeen. With Lawley’s public support, Gordon easily won the seat.

In addition, speculation quickly emerged about Lawley’s improper financial dealings, using ‘insider’ knowledge from his official duties, to help pay his considerable debts. The obvious implication was that he was being shunted to the other side of the world to avoid a political crisis for the Government. From the Opposition, Disraeli had summed up the growing scandal, especially its proximity to Gladstone, in a letter dated 26 July:

“Frank Lawley, ruined by stock-jobbing, is appointed Governor of South or West Australia. An infamous job under any circumstances, but still more so, if, as they say in the City, the party really engaged was the Chancr of the Exr, of whom he was Private Secy. He knew all the Cabinet secrets, his brokers say.”

Gladstone’s diaries show that he was discussing Lawley’s situation from as early as that June, when the Australian opportunity arose, though he seemed to have been unaware of the full extent of Lawley’s misdeeds and thought the matter had been quietly resolved. However, the tabling of questions in the House in early August, which would make the scandal public knowledge, brought matters to a head.

On 2 August, Lawley saw Gladstone “and made his sad confession.” Ministers realised they would have to make a Commons statement, rescinding Lawley’s appointment.

This took place the following day, and even Gladstone had to explain himself in a difficult speech. He described it in his diary as “a day of much distress and anxiety, mitigated as far as it could be by the considerate kindness of the House.”

Despite this, the Lawley affair lingered when opposition media and politicians tried to use it to generate a general air of ministerial corruption, and more so when it was discovered that Lawley was still Gladstone’s private secretary. The Chancellor had to publicly announce that this was simply a transitional arrangement.

Lawley remained a confidant of Gladstone in later years, acting, for example, as his go-between to dissident Liberals over the legislative struggles in the mid-1860s over further parliamentary reform. But, despite tentative steps at a political comeback in 1892, Lawley’s political ambitions were ended by the 1854 scandal.