Charles Henry Bellenden Ker

Charles Henry Bellenden Ker was an English barrister and legal reformer.

Early life The son of John Bellenden Ker, he was born about 1785. As a young man, he was a patron of William Blake, though unwilling when it came to payment in 1810. Blake took some legal steps, and George Cumberland became involved.

Ker was called to the bar by the Society of Lincoln's Inn on 28 June 1814, and obtained a large practice as a conveyancer. Active in promoting parliamentary reform from 1830 to 1832, he was a member of the boundary commission, and contested Norwich unsuccessfully in the Whig interest. Some Bills for the amendment of the criminal law were based on the reports of the commission.

Ker was an advocate of popular education, and of the diffusion of literature and art. Charles Knight, in Passages of a Working Life, ii. 120, 121, says that he was "the most fertile in projects of any member of the committee" of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and suggested many publishing schemes apart from the society.

Two of Charles Lock Eastlake's works were painted for Ker. He was himself a contributor of woodcuts as well as lives of Christopher Wren and Michelangelo to the Penny Magazine. He was an original member of the Arundel Society, was interested in the foundation of schools of design, and helped to promote the establishment of the Department of Science and Art.

Ker was one of the first private growers of orchids, and he wrote a series of articles under the pseudonym "Dodman" in the Gardeners' Chronicle. He was in early life a fellow of the Royal Society, but resigned his fellowship when in 1830 the Duke of Sussex was chosen president.

Last years In 1860 Ker retired from practice, and lived the rest of his life at Cannes, where he died on 2 November 1871.

Works Ker is the author of The question of registry or no registry considered, with reference to the interests of landholders (1830) Shall we register our deeds? (1853)

Family Ker married Elizabeth Anne, daughter of Edward Clarke, a solicitor. They had no children.