Charles Alfred Graves

Biography

Charles Alfred Graves had just graduated from Washington and Lee School of Law, where he had been a student of both Brockenbrough and John Randolph Tucker, when Tucker appointed him assistant professor of law in 1873. In 1874, he became an adjunct professor, and advanced to the rank of professor of law in 1875 when Tucker was elected to Congress.

The young Graves served admirably and essentially alone until he was reunited with Tucker when the latter retired from Congress more than a decade later. During those years, the university as a whole suffered financial hardships, and the law student body fluctuated between fourteen and twenty-eight. Graves modestly said that if he deserved credit for his work at Washington and Lee it was for remaining with the institution during those dark days.

1889, however, ushered in the "golden years of Randy and Charlie", with John Randolph Tucker's return adding students to the rolls to the extent that a third professor of law -- John W. Davis -- was added in 1896. In 1897 John Randolph Tucker died and Graves became dean. On March 28, 1899, Graves was elected to succeed Professor Dabney at the University of Virginia School of Law, and he accepted. He taught there with great distinction for twenty-eight years. He died in Charlottesville in 1928.