{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Use British English|date=June 2012}} [[File:Douglas Straight (1844–1914).png|thumb|right|200px|In ''The Sketch'', 17 April 1895]]
'''Sir Douglas Straight''' (22 October 1844 – 4 June 1914) was an English lawyer, Member of Parliament, judge and journalist.<ref name=EB1922>{{cite EB1922 |wstitle=Straight, Sir Douglas |volume=32 |page=579}}</ref>
==Life== Straight was born in London and was educated at Harrow School.<ref name=EB1922/> Until 1865 he engaged in journalism, but then became a lawyer and soon developed an extensive practice, especially at the Central Criminal Court, London.<ref name=EB1922/>
[[File:Douglas Straight Vanity Fair 1879-05-10.jpg|thumb|right|{{center|"the new Judge"<br />As depicted by "Spy" (Leslie Ward) in ''Vanity Fair'', May 1879}}]]
From 1870-74, Straight was a member of the House of Commons as Conservative Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury.<ref name=EB1922/> In 1879, he was made a judge of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in India.<ref name=EB1922/> To mark this appointment, ''Vanity Fair'' caricatured him: ''The Hon Mr Justice Straight, the new Judge''. After thirteen years of judicial service abroad he was knighted soon after his return from India in 1892.<ref name=punch1>[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15144/15144-h/15144-h.htm Punch, 27 August 1892].</ref>
In 1876, Straight was admitted by redemption to the Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Bowyers of the City of London. He served two terms of office as Master in 1900–1902 and 1910–12.{{cn|date=December 2022}}
Four years later, Straight resumed work as a journalist, serving as joint editor of the ''Pall Mall Magazine'' (1893–1896) and then editor of the ''Pall Mall Gazette''<ref name=EB1922/> (from 1896). He was a well known society personage during this time and as an editor he corresponded with many of the literary names of the day. Straight retired "from everything except the task of trying to enjoy himself" in 1909,<ref name=NYT1>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/10/11/104811596.pdf "Straight to Retire"], ''The New York Times'', 11 October 1908.</ref> and died in London five years later, aged 69.<ref name=EB1922/>
==Works== In 1867, Straight wrote a pseudonymous memoir of his time at Harrow entitled ''Harrow Recollections. By an Old Harrovian'', signing the preface with the name Sidney Daryl. This was a pseudonym he went on to use for a number of publications.<ref name=Halkett>Halkett, Samuel & Laing, John, ''A Dictionary of the Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature of Great Britain etc.'', 1883</ref> He wrote plays and stories and about topics that interested him. In 1868, for instance, he compiled ''Routledge's Handbook of Quoits and Bowls''.<ref name=Halkett />
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Hansard-contribs | sir-douglas-straight | Sir Douglas Straight }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury | with = James Figgins | before = William James Clement<br />"Colonel" George Tomline | after = Charles Cecil Cotes<br /> Henry Robertson | years = 1870–1874 }} {{s-media}} {{succession box | before = Henry Cust | title = Editor of The ''Pall Mall Gazette'' | years = 1896–1909 | after = Frederick Higginbottom }} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Straight, Douglas}} Category:1844 births Category:British India judges Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:People educated at Harrow School Category:English magazine editors Category:Knights Bachelor Category:UK MPs 1868–1874 Category:1914 deaths