Charles James O'Donnell

Charles James O'Cahan O'Donnell (1849 – 3 December 1934) was an Irish colonial administrator, politician and a member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

O'Donnell was born in Donegal in 1849. He was educated at Queens College Galway, and passed the Indian Civil Service Examinations in 1870. He served in Bengal and dealt with the famine of 1874. His duties also included tenant rights and judicial control of rents. He was appointed assistant to the Director General of Statistics in 1875 but returned to district work as a joint magistrate in 1884. He was the Superintendent of Bengal for the census of 1891, and rose to Commissioner in 1898 before his retirement in 1900.

O'Donnell had a palpable dislike of Lord Curzon as Viceroy of India, addressing "The Failure of Lord Curzon" to Lord Rosebery. Elected as a Liberal member for Walworth in the 1906 general election. O'Donnell was to level heavy criticism at the Secretary of State for British measures in India such as the partition of Bengal. He decided not to contest the January 1910 general election.

He was the brother of Frank Hugh O'Donnell. He married Constance Langworth in 1882. O'Donnell died at Hans Crescent, London, in December 1934.

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• The First World War in Irish Poetry
• The Statesman
• The Popular Guide to the House of Commons