1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mersey, John Charles Bigham, 1st Viscount

MERSEY, JOHN CHARLES BIGHAM, 1st Viscount (1840- ), English judge, was born at Liverpool, Aug. 3 1840, and was educated at the Liverpool Institute and later at Berlin and Paris. He was called to the bar in 1870, was made a Q.C. in 1883, and became leader of the northern circuit. He entered the House of Commons in 1895 as Unionist member for the Exchange division of Liverpool, but lost his seat in 1897. In the same year he was raised to the bench and knighted. In 1902 he was president of the Royal Commission for the revision of the South African martial law sentences, and from 1904 to 1908 president of the railway and canal commission. From 1904 to 1910 he was chief judge in bankruptcy, and in 1909 became president of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty division of the High Court, and was made a privy councillor. In 1910 he was raised to the peerage. He was recognized as one of the highest authorities on Admiralty and shipping questions, and in 1912 became wreck commissioner, being the same year president of the commission which investigated the loss of the “Titanic.” He presided in 1913 over the conference on the safety of life at sea, and in 1914 over the commission of inquiry into the loss of the “Empress of Ireland.” On the outbreak of the World War Lord Mersey's wide experience and knowledge were recognized by his appointment as head of the Admiralty transport arbitration board, and in 1915 he investigated the circumstances attending the losses of the " Falaba " and the " Lusitania." In 1916 he was created a viscount.