Geelong Lawyers' Collection: Charles Alfred WoolleyBiography of Charles Woolley by Vivian Hill
Charles Alfred Woolley the son of George Woolley and Charlotte Buttle was born in London in 1831. He attended Rossall Public School in Rossall Lancashire where he must have been one of its early pupils. In 1844 when it was founded he was 13. Sometime after schooling he became a clerk in the office of Thomas Charles Harwood Attorney and Solicitor, of Lower Norwood, Surrey, a suburban district of South London and part of the Borough of Lambeth. Charles Woolley had continued working in the law. He was admitted as an attorney of the Court of Queens Bench Westminister on 2nd May 1856. In the manner of the time, when the legal year, like the school year and the university year, was divided into several Terms, the order granting the right to practice as an attorney is described as being made in the Easter Term in the 19th year of the reign of Queen Victoria. Six days later John Romilly Master of the Rolls certified he was satisfied that Woolley was qualified to be admitted to the High Court of Chancery and directed that his name be enrolled as a solicitor of that court. Woolley then practised as an attorney and solicitor. At the time he was admitted his address was shown as Lewes, Sussex, a town near Brighton. From documents lodged when he applied for admission in Victoria it appears that he had been living and practising in Newcastle on Tyne. Edward Sandford ceased to practise with Harwood in 1857 when he left to take up a new partnership in Melbourne. Harwood must have kept contact with Woolley. On 13th March 1858 Charles Woolley and his wife Louisa ( previously Gill) set sail on the “ Agincourt” and arrived at Melbourne Port Phillip on 9th June. They were unassisted migrants and two of the 9 cabin passengers out of a total number of 59 passengers. Although it is likely that they were coming out at Harwood’s invitation or suggestion they were taking part in what amounted to mass migration from the United Kingdom to Victoria after the discovery of gold. They were just two of the 5859 assisted and 17,391 unassisted migrants who came from the United Kingdom that year. From 1851 to 1861 the magnetic quality of gold attracted an increase of over 500% in Victoria’s population. It rose from 20,000 to over 220,000. Once in Melbourne Charles Woolley took steps to become admitted in Victoria. Persons admitted as Barristers or Advocates or as Attorneys, Solicitors or Writers to the Signet in the Superior Courts of Westminster, Dublin and Edinburgh were entitled to admission without qualifying in Victoria. Under Victorian Supreme Court Rules of 1853 local applicants, in addition to serving Articles, had to study and be examined by a Board of Attorneys in a number of subjects including Colonial Statute Law. Amendments to these Rules in 1865 and 1873 strengthened the requirements for admission including the need to have matriculated to a university. Shortly after he arrived Charles Woolley was employed by Francis Thomas Gell, a solicitor in Queen Street Melbourne and carried out legal work. In accordance with the Rules of the Victorian Supreme Court he lodged an affidavit of his admission to practice in England with copies of his certificates of admission as an Attorney by the Queens Bench Court and Solicitor by the High Court of Chancery at Westminster, posted notice of his intention to apply for admission to practice in Victoria in the Prothonotary’s office and on the door of the Supreme Court building at the corner of Latrobe and Russell Street and was admitted in July 1858 at the end of the Trinity Term. Once admitted he joined in partnership with Thomas Charles Harwood in Yarra Street Geelong. They practised as Woolley and Harwood although Harwood was senior and already in practice. The naming of the firm raises the probability that Woolley had made arrangements to purchase Sandford’s interest in the earlier partnership before he emigrated. According to the Geelong Advertiser Woolley was very popular and highly respected. He was elected to the Geelong City Council. He became a member of the Melbourne Club and was described as an intimate friend of James Balfour. Balfour who had arrived in Geelong 4 years before Woolley became a successful merchant in Brougham Street Geelong and later in Melbourne. By 1856 he had been elected to the Legislative Assembly. He remained a M.L.A. until1868 when he resigned. He was member of the Legislative Council 1874-1904. Woolley entered into Articles of Clerkship with John Mark Davies the eldest of three brothers who became solicitors. Matthew Davies and John M. Davies were to feature strongly in the 1890s Land Boom and Bank Crash in Melbourne. J.M. Davies was admitted in 1863 and became a partner with Woolley and Harwood in 1865. They traded as Woolley, Harwood and Davies. Soon afterwards Davies left Geelong and commenced a practice with J.M. Campbell at 44 Elizabeth Street Melbourne where they built up a very successful firm. Campbell was an articled clerk at Woolley and Harwood at the some time as Davies. Charles Woolley and family returned to England in 1865. They had lost two children while in Victoria. In 1862 two year old Ethel Mary died and although born in the same year, Hilda Verena May also died that year. Another child was born in 1864. Geelong had not progressed as had been seen likely in the early days after the discovery of gold. Its great handicap was that many ships could not sail into its harbour because of a bar across the entrance. Ships went to Hobson’s Bay at Melbourne instead and that city prospered. By 1865 Geelong’s population was declining rather than increasing. Perhaps there was not enough legal work available to support the two partners. At the time Woolley left Frederic Rupert Pincott* was articled to him. Those 1863 articles were assigned by Woolley to Harwood before his departure. Pincott was admitted to practice 1868, married Harwood’s daughter 1871 and became his partner in 1872 to form the firm known as Harwood and Pincott* On his return Charles Woolley was appointed Town Clerk of Hove, near Brighton. It was in Brighton that he resumed legal practice building up a good business. His son took part in the practice. Harwood and Woolley kept up their friendship. When Harwood visited England 1903 he called on his former partner and according to the Geelong Advertiser they had a happy time together. Charles Woolley died in London in 1910, aged 79, two years before Harwood. Vivian Hill July 2001. Where the sign * appears it means that that person is presently or is intended to be the subject of separate archive box in the Geelong Lawyers Collection. References:
Text copyright held by Vivian Hill.
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