MR. H. J. ROBY, M.P.

The name of Mr. Ruby has been very much in men's minds and men's mouths of late, especially in the Eccles division of Lancashire. One political party has found it a name to conjure with, and Mr. Roby's return to Parliament is with them a source of unalloyed satisfaction, and is regarded as a fitting result of the sustained efforts of his friends and of his own exceptional merits as a man and a politician. This opinion is of course considerably discounted by the views of equally honest politicians on the other side, but as we have nothing to do with politics, or with the results of elections, as such, we have only to picture as we find him, a notable man, who has fought and won a remarkable electoral contest in one of the suburban Manchester Divisions, and who is now M.P. in addition to his other honourable titles.

From a very fair review of Mr. Roby's antecedents, published in a leading Manchester daily paper, before the election began, we are enabled to give a comprehensive account of his career up to the date of his appearance upon a new stage as a legislator :- Mr. Roby, J.P., M.A., and LL.D., was born at Tamworth in 1830, where his father was a leading solicitor. In 1842 his family removed to Bridgnorth, in Shropshire, and for seven years he was a day scholar at the ancient Grammar School of that picturesque old town. Among his predecessors under the late Dr. Rowley at Bridgnorth School were Lord Lingen and Bishop Fraser. In 1849 Mr. Roby went to St. John's College, Cambridge, and was elected Scholar and Exhibitioner of the College. He took his B.A. degree in 1853, when he was senior classic. In 1843 he was elected to a Fellowship at St. John's, and a year or two afterwards was tutor and classical lecturer there. Until 1861 he remained at Cambridge, when he not only took private pupils in classics, but played a conspicuous part in the active life of the University, and among his contemporaries and friends there were many who have since distinguished themselves in different spheres of public work. In ¹⁸59, Mr. Roby took an active part in the discussion of the new statutes for both the Colleges and the University under the University Commission. In 1858 he published a pamphlet, "Remarks on College Reform." He was one of the promoters of the movement for establishing classes for working men at Cambridge: was secretary to the committee which managed the classes, with the present Bishop of Carlisle as president. Mr. Roby was also the first secretary of the Committee of the Cambridge Local University Examinations, In 1859 he was an examiner for the Law Tripos, and in 1861 for the Moral Science Tripos.

From the time he went to Cambridge Mr. Roby was accustomed to examine the political questions of the day, and long before he left the University he had become a thorough Liberal from conviction. For a few years after leaving Cambridge, Mr. Roby was Under-Master of Dulwich, and it was while there that he published his Elementary Latin Grammar. In 186-1- he was appointed secretary to the Schools Inquiry Commission, of which Lord Taunton was chairman, and among the other members were the present Bishop of London, Lord Derby, Lord Lyttelton, Sir T. D. Acland, Sir Stafford Northcote, Mr. Forster, Sir Edward Baines, Dr. Hook, etc. This commission reported in 1868, and the report was written mainly by the Bishop of London and Mr. Roby. The appendix included 20 volumes, which were edited and partly written by Mr. Roby and Mr. D. C. Richmond, the assistant secretary, now one of the Charity Commissioners.

Mr. Roby was for two years Professor of Jurisprudence at University College, London, where he lectured on Roman Law. In 1869, M r. Forster passed the Endowed Schools Bill, which appointed the famous Endowed Schools Commission, and really revolutionised the methods of regarding and dealing with endowments. Mr. Roby was made secretary to this commission, and when Sir J. Hobhouse went to India he was appointed Under-Commissioner in his place.

In 1873 a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire into the working of the Endowed Schools Commission. Mr. Roby had been one of the most active spirits in promoting these and other of the important reforms which did so much to improve the secondary education of the country, and to make such healthy and sensible diversions in the incomes of the old and close endowments. He was examined for three days before the House of Commons Committee, and the value of the evidence was generally recognised.

It was in 1874, after his discontinuance of the work of the Endowed Schools Commission, that Mr. Roby was persuaded to come to Manchester as a partner in the firm of Ermen and Engels, which, in the course of a few months, was changed to Ermen and Roby. In 1877 he was appointed a life governor, and a member of the Council of Owens College, offices which he now holds. Since 1877, when the new scheme for the Manchester Grammar School came into force, he has been one of its governors, having been nominated thereto by the University of Cambridge, and when the new scheme for the Hulme's Charity came into effect, he was also appointed to be one of its governors.

The activities of business life and public work did not prevent Mr. Roby from the pursuit of letters. Between the years 1871 and 1874 he had published the two volumes of his larger Latin Grammar, and in 1880 he issued a school edition of this excellent work. In 1884 he published his "Introduction to Justinian's Digest and Commentary.''' The first part of this has been translated into Italian under the auspices of Professor Cogliosto, of Modena, and it was in recognition of the importance of this work that the University of Edinburgh conferred the degree of LL.D. on Mr. Roby in 1887.

Mr. Roby is a vigorous and incisive speaker, and he is not less ready in debate than on the platform. It cannot be expected that a politician of such distinctive independence will succeed in guiding himself in accord on every detail with every member of his party, but the least that can be said of Mr. H. J. Roby is that few men combine so many of the qualities essential to success in the career of a senator as he does. With his high character as a gentleman and his attainments as a scholar, he will bring to the performance of his duties as a member of Parliament the experience of a long and varied career, the skill and insight of a well-trained intellect and the sympathy of a kindly and generous nature.

Mr. Roby married in 1861 Miss Ermen, daughter of Mr. Peter Ermen, this alliance leading ultimately to his introduction to Manchester. His residence is at Pendlebury, near Manchester. He has filled the offices of Chairman of the Manchester Liberal Executive, Chairman of the Executive of the North West Manchester Liberal Association, Chairman of the Manchester Liberal Union, and President of the Eccles Liberal Association.