Draft:Charles Edmund Grissell

Charles Edmund Grissell was a former lieutenant in the Royal Navy known for being the last non-member to be imprisoned by the House of Commons. He was imprisoned for breaching parliamentary privilege by the parliament on two occasions in 1879 and 1880.

Breach of privilege

A committee of the House of Commons was hearing petitions on a bill for building a bridge over the Thames. A firm of wharfingers were opposed to the bill, known as the Tower High Level Bridge Bill, as it would threaten their interests.

Grissell was a partner in a firm of meat importers, which was accumulating debt. Grissell tried to take advantage of the wharfingers by claiming he knew the members of the committee and could control its decision and have the bill defeated for a fee of £2,000. His solicitor, John Sandelands Ward, aided him in this attempt to get money off the wharfingers.

The wharfingers immediately informed their legal advisors and the committee learned of Grissell’s plot. The committee was immediately suspended upon allegations of corruption of its members and a Committee of Privileges was appointed to investigate the matter. Grissell was summoned to give evidence, where he admitted that he had no influence at all. He only a slight acquaintance with the chairman of the committee, Lord Henry Lennox, and did not know the other members.

He also denied that he was trying to obtain money through false pretences – but instead had received a letter anonymously that told him the wharfingers “would stop at nothing to bring about the rejection of the Bill.” He claimed he had tried to expose them by pretending to engage with corruption. The committee rejected this claim.

Evading arrest

On July 22, 1879, Grissell and Ward were both summoned to the bar of the House to be found guilty of breach of privilege. Ward attended and apologised but was still committed to the Clock Tower, where he was able to continue his practice as a solicitor. However, he complained about the sound of Big Ben and after obtaining two medical certificates on the poor impact it had on his health, he was released after 12 days.

Grissell however, fled to Boulogne, France, where was reported to be “disporting himself on the pier and the sands in summer attire.” On the day he was required to attend the House for judgment he sent a telegram, claiming he was too ill to travel.

As it was outside of the jurisdiction of the UK Parliament, the Serjeant-at-Arms sent a messenger to arrest Grissell (who had changed his name by then to Graham) and tell him that he was urgently needed back in England. The messenger found him on the Boulogne Piere and “accosted” him, to which Grissell replied “you don’t suppose that I am such a fool as to return to London in obedience to your warrant. Come, the best way will be for you to come and dine with me at my hotel.” The messenger obliged and they had lunch together.

First imprisonment

Grissell refused to return to England with the messenger, but familiarized himself with the rules of the House of Commons. Parliament could only imprison people until the expiration of the session, so he waited until just before the scheduled expiration of the session before he agreed to return to England.

On August 14, he was committed to Newgate Prison for evading the execution of the Speaker’s warrant. The session expired and the next day he was released, having spent only one night in prison.

Second imprisonment

Members were angry that Grissell had exploited the situation to spend less time than Ward in prison, despite Ward apologising and Grissell fleeing the country.

On March 2, 1890, the House of Commons discussed a petition from Grissell who had apologised for the “grave offence of which he was adjudged guilty”. Beresford Hope said that the punishment had not been severe enough and if Grissell was let off with a reprimand it “would expose the House to the ridicule and petty persecution” of others. The House and moved a motion for the Serjeant-at-Arms to take Grissell back into custody. While the imprisonment had expired with the session, there was nothing to prevent the House from ordering a new imprisonment in a new session.

Grissell was taken by the Serjeant-at-Arms at his house in Mayfair and remained in prison for three weeks before the dissolution of Parliament for the 1880 general election.

Impact

The event demonstrated that the power of imprisoning people for contempt of Parliament is an extant power in the UK. Another punishment is a monetary fine, but the last time parliament fined someone was in 1666. The power to fine was denied in 1762 by Lord Mansfield and so it is arguable that this power has lapsed.

The power to imprison people has been exercised since in other Westminster Parliaments, such as the Australian Parliament in the instance of the 1955 Brown-Fitzpatrick case.