About John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey
John Charles Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey (3 August 1840 – 3 September 1929) was a British jurist and politician. After early success as a lawyer and a less successful spell as a politician, he was appointed a judge and worked in commercial law. After his retirement, Mersey remained active in public affairs and is probably best remembered for heading the official Board of Trade inquiries into the sinking of steamships, most notably RMS Titanic, RMS Lusitania, and Falaba, which gave rise to the Thrasher incident. He also chaired the inquiry under the Canada Shipping Act into the sinking of RMS Empress of Ireland. During the first part of the war, Mersey also worked in the Prize Courts, adjudicating seized cargo from the British blockade. His first son, Charles Clive Bigham, survived the sinking of the passenger ship Persia in 1915. Mersey's third son, and second surviving was Trevor Bigham, who became Deputy Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.
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