Kenelm Edward Digby

Who was Kenelm Edward Digby?

Sir Kenelm Edward Digby KCB, GCB, was an English lawyer and civil servant. He was Permanent Under Secretary of State at the Home Office from 1895-1903.

Digby was born in Wootton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, England, the son of Hon. and Revd. Kenelm Henry Digby and his wife Caroline. The Digbys were an old-established county family from Dorset, with a strong tradition of public service. The Revd. Kenelm Henry Digby was the younger brother of Edward Digby, 9th Baron Digby and Jane Digby.

Digby schooled at Blakeney in Norfolk and then at Harrow School. He graduated in 1859 from Corpus Christi College Oxford, and was called to the bar as a member of Lincoln's Inn in 1865. From 1868-1875 he taught at Oxford University, and published An Introduction to the History of the Law of Real Property in 1875, which soon became a standard textbook. He was a strong supporter of Gladstonian Liberalism and believed in "the greater importance of giving substantial power to the working classes". Later in his life he was involved in working out fair and effective means of compensating workmen for industrial injuries.