William Thomas Charley

Sir William Thomas Charley, KC (5 March 1833 – 8 July 1904) was a British judge and Conservative Party politician.

Life Charley was born in Woodbourne, County Antrim, Ulster in 1833, the youngest son of Matthew Charley and Anne Roberts.

He was educated at Elstree House School, Lee, Kent and St John's College, Oxford from where he matriculated in 1856. He enrolled as a law student at the Inner Temple, was called to the bar in 1865, and received a Doctorate in Civil Law in 1868. as well as unsuccessfully contesting the East Belfast by-election in 1892 as an Independent Conservative.

In 1878 he was elected as the senior legal office of Common Serjeant by the Corporation of London. The appointment caused controversy, as it was felt to be purely political, and that there was a large number of better-qualified lawyers who should have been considered. As a result, the Local Government Act 1888 removed the right of the city corporation to choose the serjeant, which was vested in the Crown. They had two daughters: Clara Noel Charley (1891–1973) and Estelle Dumergue Charley (1894–1939).