Charles G.L. DuCann: The Barrister who Defended a Doomed German Spy

Introduction

While researching the story of my grandfather, Josef Jakobs, I have dipped into the stories of many of the other German spies who were executed by the British during the Second World War. I have always been impressed by Karel Richard Richter’s defence lawyer, C.G.L. DuCann. He had only a few hours to familiarize himself with Richter’s case and yet he came out of the starting blocks with a rather astonishing argument… that there was no case to be considered!

While his arguments were ultimately dismissed by the Justice Tucker, with barely a flicker, I still think DuCann identified some contentious issues which should have been considered. Even Inspector Grant (Special Branch) noted that “DuCann made a very eloquent speech for the defence, stressing that Richter had been sent against his will. He claimed that the prisoner had done no act likely to assist the enemy, and asked the jury to acquit him”.

The jury did not agree with DuCann, and Richter was sentenced to death. In the weeks following the trial, Richter pleaded with DuCann to visit him, perhaps to craft an appeal. There is no evidence that DuCann visited Richter, perhaps because he knew that there were no legal grounds for an appeal. In the end, Richter was hanged to Wandsworth Prison on 10 December 1941.

I’ve been meaning to write a blog on C.G.L. Ducann for a few years now. While I had done some initial research in 2018, I have recently dug up quite a bit of information on him. This blog is therefore quite long…

Early Life

Our future barrister, Charles Garfield Lott DuCann, was baptized 24 August 1889 in Christ Church parish in Gloucester. He was apparently born 11 July in Littleworth, near Amberley, just south of Stroud, Gloucestershire. His parents were listed as Charles Joseph DuCann and Mary Elizabeth Dillon. Charles Sr. gave his occupation as “lecturer” and the family lived at 13 Brunswick Square. The house was located in a string of row houses along the edge of Brunswick Park, just east of The Docks.

Charles Sr is a bit of a mysterious character. One story has him born about 1836 in New York City, USA, parents unknown. His grandson (Edward DuCann) claimed that his grandfather “was supposedly an American professor of science but he earned his living as a lecturer and gave readings. He was besides something of a public entertainer, a conjuror of sorts and hypnotist”. In this story, his name was Charles Joseph Garfield McCann/DuCann.

On the other hand, another story has Charles Sr. born 1833 in Malvern, Worcestershire with the name Charles James McCann. His mother was Emma McCann, and his father was likely Richard Randle who married Emma in the late 1830s, after Charles Sr. had been born. In this story, Charles Sr. had three successive wives who produced (respectively), two, six and two children. It would appear that Charles Sr. divorced his first two wives, since both of them died after his marriage to his third wife, Mary Elizabeth Dillon Lott. It was she who was the mother of Charles Garfield Lott DuCann and Clytie Jannette DuCann (1891-1925).

In both scenarios (born in USA or born in Worcestershire), Charles Sr. died on 3 May 1908 in Cheltenham. The fact that his name changes over the years McCann to DuCann as well as from Charles Joseph to Charles James, makes him a bit difficult to track with certainty.

As for Charles Sr.’s occupation, according to the 1871 UK Census has Charles and his second wife (Fannie, originally from Kentucky, USA) were living in Newport, Wales. At the time, Charles was a Professor of Ventriloquism and gave his birth place as Malvern. I also found some newspaper articles which suggest that Charles Sr. moved around a fair bit. A Melbourne, Australia newspaper from 1883 noted that Charles DuCann (illusionist and ventriloquist) was charged with fraud but was ultimately acquitted. The National Archives (Kew) has several handbills advertising announcing the appearance of the “American ventriloquist – Mr. Charles DuCann” at various venues throughout the UK.

Suffice to say that it looks as if our future barrister, Charles Jr., had one sister and a number of half-siblings, some of whom had the most astonishing names: Napoleon Bismarck DuCann (1871-1872). I could easily get sucked down the McCann/DuCann rabbit hole, but want to keep my eye on my quarry, Charles Garfield Lott DuCann!

Not much is known about Charles Jr.’s mother. Mary Elizabeth was apparently born around 1852 in London to Herman James Lott and Elizabeth Stokes Rogers (both born in Honiton, Devon). Her birth in London would seem to be a bit of an aberration since her two sisters (born 1843 and 1854) were both born in Honiton and her mother appears on censuses there until her death in 1886. Apparently Mary’s father Herman suffered a heart attack while walking down the street of Exeter during a visit. Passers-by thought that he was drunk, rather than ill, and he was tossed into the drunkard’s tank where he passed away in 1857 at the age of 41.

Mary Elizabeth passed away in 1893, at the age of 41, leaving her ventriloquist husband with two young children, Charles Jr. (4 years old) and Clytie (two years old and born in Bath). If ever there was a time for a man to marry another wife to care for his progeny, this would have been the time, and yet there is no evidence that Charles Sr. married again. By 1901, according to the UK Census, he was a Publican at 11 Chapel Street in Bath. There is no evidence that any of his children were living with him. When Charles Sr. passed away on 3 May 1908 in Cheltenham. Charles Jr. would have been 19 years old and Clytie only 17 years old. I would hazard a guess that Charles Jr.’s childhood was not all that stable.

By 1911, Charles Jr.’s sister, Clytie was working as a photographer’s assistant to Frederick Whittock in Sutton Coldfield, north of Birmingham. According to one Ancestry tree, Clytie was raised in a Protestant Convent in Derbyshire. This makes me wonder what happened to Charles Jr? Where was he in the 1901 and 1911 censuses? I haven’t been able to track him down, possibly because his surname was indexed incorrectly. As for his sister, Clytie, she lived a relatively short life, passing away in 1925 in Norwich, Norfolk.

First World War

Charles Jr. would appear to have had a rather tumultuous upbringing, and we know virtually nothing about his early years. I did find a record which notes that on 7 March 1914, Charles, a journalist, was initiated into the Gallery Lodge of the Freemasons. His obituary noted that he was a teacher, prior to becoming a journalist. Where he taught or lived is a complete mystery. What we do know with certainty, is that he was called up by the British Army in the fall of 1914. A London Gazette notice dated 22 September 1914 lists Charles Jr. as a Temporary Second Lieutenants assigned to The Prince of Wales’s (North Staffordshire Regiment – NSR).

Less than a year later, on 23 January 1915, Charles was promoted to Temporary Lieutenant with the 9th Battalion of the NSR. He wouldn’t serve with them for very long. On 10 June of that same year Charles was seconded from his regiment to the newly formed Army Cyclist Corps. He stayed with the Army Cyclist Corps for the next two years, bumping between Temporary Lieutenant (Nov 1916) and Temporary Captain (Sept 1916, Jan 1917). It would appear that he arrived in France in 6 September 1915, thus qualifying him for the 1914-15 Star.

On 17 March 1917, Charles was transferred from the Army Cyclist Corps to the Labour Corps with the rank of Temporary Lieutenant. A Gazette notice date 26 April 1917, noted that he had been attached to the Durham Light Infantry. His rank in the Labour Corps bumped up and down as well. A Gazette notice dated 31 October, 1917, noted that “Temp. Lt. C.G.L. DuCann relinquishes the actg. [acting] rank of Capt. on ceasing to comd. [command] a Co. [Company] 23 Apr 1917.”

While serving in France, Charles penned a series of poems which were published in 1917 by Erskine MacDonald Limited in London. Entitled Triolets from the Trenches, the poems touched upon life in the trenches which such titles as: The Bulgar, Barbed Wire, The Girls, The Parapet II, Biographical I, Hide and Seek, The Red Wine of Peril, What is Commonly Called a Mewl, The Balkan Scourge or What is Commonly Called the Yant, Cave, Those Rest Camps, Fix Bayonets Charge and The Military Mandragora.

Another of Charles’s poems was published in a compilation of verse gathered together by Lieutenant C.E. Andrews entitled “From the Front: Trench Poetry“.

A Dead German

O mystical and magic moon,
   That sheds soft light on this dead face
That’s like King Arthur’s in his swoon,
   O mystical and magic moon,
Tremulously I crave a boon:
   “When my time comes, do me this grace,”
O mystical and magic moon,
   That sheds soft light on this dead face!
                                  Lieut. C.G.L. DuCann

While serving with the Labour Corps, Charles was eventually attached to the 1001st Russian Labour Corps. After the Russian Revolution (October 1917), Russia withdrew from the war. Russian General Yermoloff suggested that Russian troops fighting on the Western Front and in the Middle East be formed into units to fight alongside the Allies. This idea was rejected out of hand by the War Cabinet in December 1917. The concept was raised again in February 1918 and, while the idea of having a Russian fighting force was rejected, the British decided to use the men as Labour units.

The first Russian Labour Corps was formed in Salonika on 4 April 1918. Two battalions were based in the UK as receiving and training units. Four battalions served in France and performed salvage and battlefield clearance duties.

Unfortunately, all of the records relating to the Russian Labour Corps were destroyed in the Blitz on 8 September 1940. One source suggested that the 1001st Company served with the 1st Army in France. A July 1919 Army List notes that Temporary Lieutenant C.G.L. DuCann was still serving with the Labour Corps as an Acting Captain (13 October 1917) although his medal card notes that he did eventually reach the rank of Captain. In addition to the 1914-1915 Star, Charles was also awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

I found a note on the Wartime Memories Project (The Great War) for Private Charles William Boulton of the Army Cyclist Corps. Boulton disembarked in France on 6 September 1915 and was demobilized from Salonika in 1919. This would seem to suggest that he was transferred to the Russian Labour Corps as well. Boulton’s family has a tiny war diary which records shopping lists from when he was a batman to Charles G.L. DuCann.

Inter-War Period

After the war, we pick up Charles’s trail in the second quarter of 1923, when he married Janet Murchie at St. Giles, London. Janet had apparently worked as a pharmacist but likely gave up her career after the wedding. That same year, Charles ran for the Liberal Party in Greenwich constituency during the UK General Election. Charles received 20.1% of the vote, coming in third place behind the victorious Labour Party candidate Edward Timothy Palmer (42.7% of the vote) and the Unionist candidate, George Hume (37.2%).

The following year, on 23 October, 1924, Charles was admitted to the Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers’. He was residing at 6 Pump Court, Temple and also gave an address of 9 Gray’s Inn Square, Gray’s Inn. One Freedom of the City document notes that Charles was a barrister-at-law, but it is unclear if he had been already admitted to the bar, or was still studying law.

That same year, Charles ran again in another General Election (following the defeat the minority Labour government), this time for the Rotherhithe constituency, just west of Greenwich. Charles also switched parties, running as a Unionist candidate against Labour candidate Ben Smith. Charles lost again, only receiving 39.7% of the vote while his opponent received 60.3% of the vote.

Charles and his wife had two sons, Edward Dillon Lott DuCann (1924-2017) and Richard Dillon Lott DuCann (1929-1994). At least, with names like that, they are relatively easy to trace. Edward went on to become a relatively well-known politician with the Conservative Party, winning constituency seats where his father had failed. Richard did not run for public office but became an attorney like his father.

Given that Charles had been a journalist, it makes sense that he dabbled in writing after becoming a barrister. Although “dabbled” is perhaps the wrong word. Charles published almost two dozen books and pamphlets during his lifetime, some of which are still referenced today. (A relatively complete list appears near the bottom of this post.)

Budding Author

His first book/booklet was the Triolet from the Trenches, published in 1917. He appears to have taken a break from writing for a few years before publishing another slim volume (128 pages) in 1929 entitled: The “Young Person’s” Complete Guide to Crime. I found a review of the book online (Neglected Books) which gives some tidbits from the book. DuCann wrote that “the real truth is that crime is a highly respectable, semi-skilled, sheltered occupation”, one that is “reasonably accessible to the ambitious” and should be commended to the young. The reviewer noted that DuCann “clearly took an impish delight in his tongue-in-cheek argument”.

Charles also wrote a number of articles for various magazines, as well as for Gray’s Inn. On 10 March, 1940, for example, Charles wrote a review of Oscar Wilde, A Summing Up (1940) (apparently a book by Alfred Bruce Douglas, Oscar Wilde’s lover) for The Freethinker (a British secular humanist magazine founded in 1881).

Divorce and Remarriage

Charles and Janet’s marriage ended in 1933 when Janet petitioned for divorce. Less than a year later, in the first quarter of 1934, Charles married Barbara Ruth Stephenson (1909-2006), a woman 20 years his junior. In the 1939 National Registration, Barbara and Charles were living at 60 Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea, just down the road from the Chelsea Physic Garden. Charles was a Barrister-at-Law and, being 50 years old, was likely considered too old for war duty. Neither of Charles’s sons were living with him in 1939 and one can presume that they were either at school or living with their mother. I searched for Charles’s first wife, Janet in the 1939 National Register but came up empty. Given that the two boys were born after 1921, their records are probably still closed, but it is odd that I couldn’t find Janet. Mind you, the indexers from Ancestry struggled with “Du Cann”. Charles is actually indexed as “Dr Cann, Charles”. So it’s possible that Janet’s entry has an indexing hiccup.

Charles’s second wife, Barbara Ruth Stephenson, was the daughter of Sarah Donaldson and Harry Malpas Stephenson (later a Lt. Col with the Manchester Regiment). Harry had joined the Imperial Yeomanry in 1900 and fought in South Africa where he was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with clasps: Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal and South Africa 1901. Upon his return to England in 1902, Harry continued to serve on weekends with a Volunteer Battalion of the Manchester Regiment (later Territorial Force), receiving an officer’s commission in 1903. Upon the outbreak of war in 1914, Harry was mobilized and commissioned as a Major with the Manchester Regiment. He was sent to Egypt, Turkey and Gallipoli where he received a head wound, necessitating an extended convalescence back in England. In 1916, Harry returned to Egypt and, in 1917, was sent with his battalion to the Western Front where he fought at Passchendaele near Ypres. Harry was badly wounded, this time in the leg, which had to be amputated. Harry was awarded the 1914-15 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal; Territorial Decoration; French Chevalier de l’ Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur. He sounds like a fascinating character but… I digress.

The 1940 Post Office Directory for London has Charles listed as a Barrister working out of 1 Garden Court, Temple EC4. His entry also notes: S.E. circuit: Surrey & South London sessions: C.C.C. [Central Criminal Court]”. It was at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) that Richter’s trial was held. I’ve always been curious as to how the defence lawyers for German spies were chosen. In most cases, the spies were brought to trial and when it was found that none of them had defence lawyers, someone was rounded up to serve in that capacity. Did the court officials simply grab the first barrister they came across in the hallways outside the court? Or was there a pool of barristers who had indicated their willingness to take on a challenge in defending a German spy?

Worshipful Company of Fruiterers

Earlier, I noted that Charles had been admitted to the Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers. I must admit to being completely baffled by Charles’s association with the Fruiterers’ company. A 1946 article from The City Press has a relatively long write-up on the first Livery dinner of the Fruiterers’ since 1939.

Fruiterers’ Company: A Growing Industry

The Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs were the guests of the Fruiterers’ Company at Vintners Hall on Friday last [25 January 1946] when the Master, Mr. C.G.L. Du Cann, presided over the first Livery dinner held since the outbreak of war.
Submitting the civic toast, the Master said it was one which had been honoured by the Company for 530 years.
Referring to the shortage of fruit in the country the Master said there were 40,000 tons of bananas waiting to be imported from the Canary Islands. Fruit was necessary to the people of Britain, and he hoped that the Government would take some heed of the country’s need.
…
Mr. A.V. Alexander, in proposing the health of the Master, said it must be remembered that there had been six years of chaos before the Labour Government took office. It we were to meet our commitments and overcome our difficulties all must pull together.
The Master acknowledged the toast, and the Clerk, Mr. Guy Eagleton, submitted that of “The Company”.

Membership in one of the Livery companies seems to have conveyed some networking benefits as well as certain civic and charitable responsibilities. Why Charles chose the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers is a mystery.

Later Career

Charles turned 65 in 1954 but continued to practice law until 1969. In 1958, Charles was still listed as having an office in Dr. Johnson’s Building at the Inner and Middle Temple area of London. I also found a reference to Charles being involved in the horrific “Notting Hill, London, Racial Terror Case” in 1958.

On 24 August 1958, nine white youths went on a rampage throughout West London, assaulting several black men with iron bars, knives and other weapons. The defendants were brought to trial in September 1958 and all pleaded guilty to wounding and assault while four of them admitted to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. A defence lawyer representing several of the defendants noted that society was to blame, specifically the racial antipathy prevalent in parts of West London. The judge didn’t think much of the defence’s argument and sentenced the defendants to four year terms. The defendants appealed their sentences to the Court of Criminal Appeal. Charles was retained as counsel for eight of the defendants and stated that they were all “of exemplary character and came from good homes”. The appeal justices didn’t think much of that argument and supported the original sentences. According to the justices, the events of that night had nothing to do with their home life, “but one was bound to reflect that if they had received good home training, it was difficult to see how they should have been on that expedition in the early hours of the morning.” Now that is well said and relevant today as well!

Later Writings

Despite his ongoing career as a barrister, Charles’s writing also picked up in later years. On top of that, Charles served as Mayor of Surbiton (just south of Kingston-upon-Thames) from 1959 to 1960. He was a busy guy.

In 1955, Charles published an article in Connoisseur Magazine entitled: Modern Gold Boxes: The Achievements of a leading English Goldsmith. The “gold boxes” included such items as cigarette cases, snuff boxes, vanity cases (for make-up?), cachou boxes (for holding pills that sweeten the breath), table boxes (for jewellery? cigars?), lighters and the like. Charles was writing about the Bond Street firm, Cartier, and how their gold boxes compared favourably with antique gold boxes. I did come across a note elsewhere that Charles was a collector of antique and vintage snuff boxes. He even wrote a couple of books on antiques: Antiques for Amateurs (1962) and Adventures in Antiques (1965).

Charles was also interested in literature and, in 1946, wrote an article entitled Dickens on the Death Penalty. Apparently Charles Dickens was a “convinced abolitionist exactly a hundred years ago, far in advance of his age, for there were few abolitionists then.”

One of Charles’s most well-known, general interest books was published in 1968 – Teach Yourself to Life: The Classic Guide to finding Happiness. The write-up on Amazon notes that the book “is a self-help classic from a very distant age. Then, as now, the self-help world was dominated by energetic Americans preaching the secrets of limitless achievement. But from the off this delightfully dry, wise and pragmatic book offers something quite different – a sober, somewhat stern, but ultimately generous guide to living in a world blighted by modernity and taxes.” Sounds like an interesting read and it’s even available on Kindle.

Two Legal Books

Charles also wrote two relatively well-known books on criminal cases. The first, Miscarriages of Justice, was published in 1960 and is still cited in works today. Bruce A. MacFarlane (Q.C. of the Manitoba and Alberta (Canada) bars) wrote a paper for the Manitoba Law Journal in 2006 – Convicting the Innocent: A Triple Failure of the Justice System. MacFarlane quoted several studies including that of DuCann in 1960. According to MacFarlane, DuCann’s book (Miscarriages of Justice) was intended for the general reader as well as members of the legal profession. His book was “revolutionary and quite flamboyant”. DuCann notes in the Preface that his book is “A sacrilegious and blasphemous brawler in that holy of holies, the Temple of Justice.” MacFarlane isn’t really sure if DuCann “advanced the debate in a helpful or realistic way”.

DuCann apparently argued for fundamental changes to criminal law, procedure and the rules of evidence referring to nine English cases of actual or apparent wrongful convictions. According to DuCann “Theatrical costume, tawdry play-acting, lying rhetoric, bombastic and blasphemous oaths should go. The form of trial might well be rather inquisitorial than accusatorial and real expression given to the idea that the accused is innocent until the court has convicted him.”

The second book, English Treason Trials, published in 1965, examined treason trials from 1330 to 1945 including the cases of: Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, Anne Boleyn, Sir Thomas More, Catherine Howard, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, Sir Walter Raleigh, Robert Catesby, Guido Fawkes, Everard Digby, Hugh Pine, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, King Charles I, Alice Lisle, Major Bernardi, The Cato Street Conspirators, Sir Roger Casement and William Joyce.

One of Charles’s pet peeves seems to have been the advantage of the prosecution in being able to go first in criminal trials, thereby getting its case into the minds of the jury members right at the beginning. He noted that if the defence calls no witnesses, then they get to have the last word. If, on the other hand, the defence does call witnesses, then the last word goes to the prosecution. This, according to Charles, was rather unfair. He noted that in 1963, a Committee of Judges demanded reform on this point… whether that took place is another matter.

In the case of Roger Casement, Charles noted that the defence sought to appeal the original verdict of guilty. While the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, the defence had one last avenue open to them, an appeal to the House of Lords. Unfortunately, according to the 1907 Criminal Appeal Act, the defence had to get the permission of the Attorney General who, in this case, had been the prosecutor at Casement’s original trial! In the end, the Attorney General refused the appeal and there was no way to appeal that refusal. Charles bemoaned that “This infamy, of the prosecutor refusing the defence liberty to appeal (now abolished), was not publicised at the time. It ought to have been shouted from high heaven in all England, Ireland and America”. Indeed.

In the case of William Joyce, defence lawyers argued at the appeal that Joyce was an American citizen not on British soil when he did his “treason” and had no loyalty to the British crown. But hours of legal wrangling about what “treason” was and was not eventually saw his appeal dismissed.

Charles’s overall argument is that the treason needs to be codified in a new Treason Act. Given that the Treason Act has its roots in the 14th century, Charles argues that as it stands, the crime of “treason” requires a lawyer, an army of obsolete books and weeks of legal research to determine what the law actually is.

I found both books in the library at the University of British Columbia, but didn’t get a chance to read them in their entirety. They do sound like fascinating reads though.

While Charles retired (officially) in 1969, his last book was published in 1968. This abrupt end to what had been a steady stream of publications makes one wonder if perhaps Charles had a stroke, or some other medical condition, which prevented him from writing.

In Their Father’s Footsteps

As noted above, Charles had two sons, both of whom followed in his footsteps, one succeeding in politics and the other in law.

Charles’s eldest son Edward Dillon Lott DuCann was born 28 May 1924 in Bromley, London. Edward attended Woodbridge School in Suffolk and then took a wartime degree in law at Oxford (St. John’s College). He then served on a Royal Navy motor torpedo boat in Coastal Command during the remainder of the war. He started out as an Ordinary Sailor, then Able Seaman before receiving a commission around D-Day.

Despite having a degree in law, Edward never went to the Bar and instead, pursued a career in finance after the war, working for an investment firm while climbing the Tory ranks. After two elections in which he failed to win a seat (Walthamstow West in 1951 and Barrow-in-Furness in 1955), Edward was elected to parliament in 1956 for Taunton. He never held a cabinet office but served as chairman of the party from 1967 to 1967. Later, after the second general election in 1974, he was a serious candidate (briefly) for the leadership of the Conservative party. He withdrew his candidacy saying that his wife would not enjoy being married to a party leader.

Edward was knighted in 1985 and left the Commons in 1987. Around the same time, his business career began to fall apart and he lost much of his wealth. His Somerset estate was repossessed in 1992 and his London flat was repossessed the following year. He also had a bankruptcy order served against him in 1993. In 1995, Edward published his autobiography (Two Lives: The Political and Business Careers of Edward du Cann), copies of which are available for purchase on the AbeBooks site.

In 1962, Edward married Sally Innes Murchie (a cousin) with whom he had two daughters and a son. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1987, the same year that Edward retired. A few years later, Edward married Jennifer Evelyn Cooke (a widow, née King) in 1990 but it was a short marriage given that she passed away in 1995. Edward eventually retired to Cyprus in 2001 where he invested in a vineyard in Lemona on the west side of the island. At some point after Jennifer’s death, he married Maureen Hope-Wynne. Edward died on 31 August 2017 in Cyprus. He is buried at St. Peter’s Churchyard in Wellington, Taunton Deane Borough, Somerset.

Charles’s second son, Richard Dillon Lott DuCann, was born 27 January 1929 and educated at Steyning Grammar School before attending Clare College, Cambridge. In 1953, Richard was called to the bar by Gray’s Inn and took silk in 1975. Richard was a formidable advocate according to an obituary in The Independent, presenting his cases “fearlessly and with penetrating logic and persuasion”. Richard married Marley Sawtell in 1955 and the couple had four children, including a son who followed his father and grandfather into the legal profession. Richard passed away in 1994, just a year after his retirement.

Death

As for our barrister, Charles passed away on 24 February 1983 in London at the ripe old age of 93 years. He lived a full live and obviously found the love of his life with Barbara. The Worshipful Company of Fruiterers’ helpfully retained a copy of his obituary published in The Times on 12 March 1983.

Lord Wigoder writes:
The death occurred on February 24, at the age of 93, of Charles Garfield Lott du Cann, known to generations of lawyers and old lags as “The Duke”. Starting his career as a teacher, and then as a journalist, he served through the First World War, being commissioned from the ranks in the North Staffordshire Regiment.
In 1919 he was called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn, of which he became a devoted member. A pupil with James Cassels (later to be a distinguished High Court Judge), he embarked on a highly successfully career at the Criminal Bar, appearing with — and against — such giants as Marshall Hall, Rufus Isaacs and Patrick Hastings.
By the time he retired from practice, a complete half-century later, he had acquired a reputation as a formidable advocate, doing his passionate best on behalf of his client, master of most forensic ploys (and inventor of several), with a deep knowledge of human nature and a fine command of language, and always able to make, particularly to the jury, an impressive, eloquent, and often moving, plea. He served two terms on the Bar Council, and in chambers in his later years he became a skilled pupil-master, a friend of all the younger members, and a fascinating raconteur (skilled storyteller).
Du Cann somehow managed also to find time to write 17 books on such varied topics as antiques (he had a noteworthy collection of snuff boxes), Charles Dickens, and famous criminal trials; to become a Master of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers’ and General Secretary of the Horticultural Trades Association, Mayor of Surbiton, Conservative parliamentary candidate and Councillor, and founder member of the Inns of Court Conservative Association.
His many friends will remember him with affection as one of the last great characters of the Criminal Bar. He leaves a wife, Barbara, and two sons, Edward, the MP for Taunton, and Richard, Q.C. and former Chairman of the Bar Council.

Charles is commemorated in the Lott family grave at St. Michael and All Angels Cemetery in Honiton, East Devon. His wife, Barbara, passed away in 2006 in Horsham, West Sussex.

Conclusion

I have a much better sense of Karel Richter’s defence lawyer and I am still left with many questions. But that always seems to be the case. The more I discover, the more I want to know. I rather think that Karel drew a relatively good lawyer from the pack of possibilities. DuCann tried a tack that none of the other defence lawyers had attempted.

There was another lawyer who is also on my books to research – J.C. Whitebrook. He served as the defence lawyer for Werner Walti and fought hard in the appeal, challenging many of the circumstances around the case. Onwards to the next blog!

Publications by Charles Garfield Lott DuCann

1917 – Triolets from the Trenches (booklet)
1917 – ‘Prentice Poems (booklet)
1926 – First Love, Last Love: The Story of a Modern Girl (novel)
1927 – One Who Would: A Realistic Story for Romantic People (novel)
1928 – The Mother Superior (novel?)
1929 – Brides of Heaven (novel?)
1929 – The Young Person’s Guide to Crime (book)
1930 – The Secret Hand (novel?)
1940 – Oscar Wilde: A Summing Up (review)
1943 – Will You Rise from the Dead? An Enquiry into the Evidence of Resurrection (book)
1945 – The Legal Profession (booklet)
1946 – Dickens on the Death Penalty (article)
1952 – Maxims and Paradoxes: Being confessions of a dead self (book)
1954 – Getting the Most out of Life (book)
1955 – Modern Gold Boxes: The Achievements of a leading English Goldsmith (article)
1958? – Marriage: Sacerdotal or Secular? (booklet)
1960 – Miscarriages of Justice (book)
1961 – The Love-Lives of Charles Dickens (book)
1962 – Antiques for Amateurs (book)
1963 – The Loves of Bernard Shaw (book)
1964 – Treasuring Hunting in Paris’ Latin Quarter (article)
1965 – Famous Treason Trials (book)
1965 – Adventures in Antiques (book)
1968 – Teach Yourself to Live: The Classic Guide to finding Happiness (book)

Sources

Ancestry – several family trees as well as genealogical documents
History of Parliament – interview with Edward Dillon Lott DuCann
Amazon – Teach Yourself to Live – book by CGL DuCann
Billion Graves – Dillon Lott graves in Devon
Fruiterers’ site – Archives of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers’ has some info on Past Master CGL DuCann
From the Front – contains a poem by CGL DuCann
Wartime Memories Project – a bio of a soldier who was a batman to CGL DuCann
Neglected Books page – Young Person’s Complete Guide to Crime review
Wikiipedia – Rotherhithe election results – see 1924
Wikipedia – 1923 UK General Election results – see Greenwich
Wikia – List of Mayors of Surbiton
Proquest – Dickens on the Death Penalty – article by C.G.L. DuCann
RapidSell – auction of military ephemera including booklet by DuCann
Connoisseur Magazine – article about Modern Gold Boxes by DuCann
Conservative Home – obituary for Edward D.L. DuCann

Header Image – Wikipedia – statue of Lady Justice