Lives of the great advocates: Edward Carson

In this series, I discuss the careers of six of the most famous barristers in English legal history. My first subject was Thomas Erskine, who rose to prominence in the late 18th century (‘Lives of the great advocates: Thomas Erskine’, NLJ, 18 & 25 April 2025, p22). The next of my ‘great advocates’ was a very different character.

The life of Edward Carson (1854–1935) was marked by contradictions. He was the Dubliner with the lilting Irish brogue, who became a luminary of the Temple in the heart of legal London. The southern Unionist and Anglican, who assumed the leadership of the Presbyterian north. The law officer who flirted with treason and revolution. The quintessential King’s Counsel, more at home at the Bailey than in Whitehall, who came close to the pinnacle of executive power at a time of grave national crisis. The dour, hatchet-faced strongman, who was a hopeless hypochondriac