Charles Gray Round

Who was Charles Gray Round?

Charles Gray Round was a barrister and the Conservative member of parliament for North Essex 1837-47. He also served as Recorder for Colchester, and as a magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant for Essex, as well as being a substantial local landowner and notable.

Round was educated at Winchester then Felsted, and graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, with first class honours in classics in 1818 and 1821; he was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1822. Round was always regarded as "a very able and intelligent lawyer", though not an eloquent pleader. He served as Chairman of the Essex Quarter Sessions, a post which he held for twenty years, and as Recorder of Colchester for nearly thirty. Round was also an active magistrate for Essex and a warm supporter of most of the religious societies connected with the Church of England. Politically, he was elected unopposed to become an MP for North Essex in 1837, a seat which he held until 1847, when he stood for the University of Oxford, but failed to win that, losing to William Ewart Gladstone.