Earl Grey), Edward Strutt (afterwards Lord Belper), Winthrop Mackworth Praed, and Charles Austin. In 1824 Villiers graduated B.A., and in 1827 proceeded M.A.
On leaving Cambridge Villiers took up his residence in London, and entered as a student at Lincoln's Inn. He attended the lectures of McCulloch, and is referred to by J. S. Mill in his ‘Autobiography’ as among the visitors from the inns of court who early in 1825 took part in the weekly public debates at a discussion forum in Chancery Lane, where the battle on the ‘population’ question was fought out between the political economists and the followers of Robert Dale Owen. At that time Villiers made the acquaintance of Jeremy Bentham and James Mill, and became associated with the school of thinkers known as ‘Benthamites,’ whose headquarters were at the house of Sir William Molesworth (then editing the ‘Westminster Review’). Chief among them were George Grote, Joseph Hume, Perronet Thompson, Charles Buller, J. S. Mill, Lytton Bulwer, J. A. Roebuck, and Mr. Temple Leader (who alone survives). Encouraged by such men and anxious to take service under Canning and Huskisson, Villiers attempted to enter parliament at the general election in 1826. In the summer of that year he accompanied his second brother, Thomas Hyde, into Yorkshire, and, while the elder brother won a seat at Hedon, Charles Villiers made a desperate but unsuccessful fight for the representation of Kingston-upon-Hull.
In 1827 Villiers was called to the bar by the society of Lincoln's Inn, and went the western circuit, which included Wales. In 1830 he was appointed secretary to the master of the rolls, and in 1832, when the royal commission for inquiring into the administration of the poor law was constituted, he was nominated an assistant commissioner, and spent several months investigating the subject in the parishes of the midland and western counties. The experience he then gained stood him in good stead when, many years later, he became president of the poor-law board. Through the influence of the master of the rolls, Villiers in 1833 received an appointment as examiner of witnesses in the court of chancery, a post that he retained until 1852, when he became judge-advocate-general.
At the close of 1834 Villiers was invited to stand for Wolverhampton at the approaching election, and on 16 Dec. he issued his address to the electors. In it he pledged himself to oppose all restrictions upon trade and monopolies of every kind, and announced himself ‘a decided advocate for triennial parliaments and vote by ballot.’ After a three weeks' contest he was returned on 10 Jan. 1835 in company with Thomas Thornely, a Liverpool merchant, and from that day until his death he remained member for Wolverhampton, although by the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 his constituency was reduced to one-third of the old parliamentary borough.
Parliament opened on 19 Feb., and Villiers took his seat below the gangway on the opposition benches. After the resignation of Sir Robert Peel and the formation of Lord Melbourne's second ministry he continued to sit below the gangway, though no longer in opposition, and to associate with the group known as ‘Utilitarians.’ Villiers made his maiden speech on 1 June 1835, in connection with a demand from Wolverhampton for an inquiry into the conduct of the military in firing upon the people at an election that had been held on 27 May for the county of Stafford. As a result of the appeal to the home secretary, Lord John Russell, an inquiry was held and the military were declared ‘to have acted with exemplary propriety, forbearance, and discipline.’
Owing to the abundant harvest of 1835, wheat fell to an average of 39s. 4d. a quarter, and the farmers found that abundance had brought them face to face with ruin owing to the extraordinary fall in the price of grain. An inquiry by a committee of the House of Commons was ordered to be held, but, owing to the advanced period of the session, the committee did not sit till the next year. Villiers, however, took the opportunity of a dinner being given to Thornely and himself by their constituents at Wolverhampton on 26 Jan. 1836 to sketch out the general line of liberal policy that he had laid down for himself, especially emphasising the necessity for free trade, legal reform, and a more sympathetic policy towards Ireland.
In February 1836 the committee on agricultural distress was appointed, and, after sitting for four months, admitted their inability to suggest means to prevent the recurrence of evil times under the existing law, and rose without making a report. The low price of food, however, caused the people at large scarcely to feel the infliction of the corn law, and it was not until after the harvest of 1836, when there was a considerable rise in the price of corn, emphasised by a pressure on the money market and the failure of certain banks, that the uncertainty of the temporary prosperity was made manifest. The small knot of free-trade members, headed
