Barrister. Son of Edward Rushton, stipendiary magistrate of Liverpool. Admitted at Gray's Inn, 1861; called to the bar, 1865; resided in Liverpool; member of Northern Circuit (Foster, Men-at-the-Bar: A Biographical Hand-List of the Members of the Various Inns of Court, 1855). In 1858 published his first book, Shakespeare a Lawyer; its contents appropriated by Chief Justice Lord Campbell in Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements, 1859, without acknowledgment to Rushton. Continued the subject of Shakespeare and law in later writings: Shakespeare's Legal Maxims, Shakespeare's Testamentary Language, Shakespeare Illustrated by the Lex Scripta. His other books on Shakespeare were Shakespeare Illustrated by Old Authors, Shakespeare's Euphuism, Shakespeare Hymn Tune Book, Shakespeare an Archer, Shakespeare and "The Arte of English Poesie". Some of the material in his books first appeared in Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen, some in Notes & Queries. His books show extensive knowledge of early English law and wide reading in early English authors; commended by reviewers. Rushton's "valuable pamphlets on Shakespearean subjects" referred to by the Cowden Clarkes (Recollections of Writers, p. 112). Picture of him in Jaggard's Shakespeare Bibliography. Published Rules and Cautions in English Grammar, 1869; edited letters of his father: Letters of a Templar, 1903. Was corresponding member of Society for the Study of Modern Languages, Berlin; of State Historical Society of Wisconsin; and of Manchester Shakespeare Society.

Author: Anne Lohrli; © University of Toronto Press, 1971.