Herbert Stephen

“ Justice Gorell Barnes, now Lord Gorell, he made his small division a model of efficiency and despatch. The lists in probate, divorce, and admiralty were increasingly full at the beginning of each year, and arrears were practically unknown. In each of the three classes of work Jeune was an efficient and capable judge. Of admiralty work he had little or no special knowledge at the time of his appointment as a judge, but fortifying himself with much reading be speedily became sufficiently master of the necessary technical knowledge. ”

“ During these ten years, as previously, the daily work of the office was performed by two deputies, one legal and the other military, but the finding of every 'general court-martial' had to be confirmed or quashed by the judge-advocate-general himself, who was also required to advise the sovereign personally in many cases, for which reason it was necessary that the office should be held by a privy councillor. Jeune was the last holder, as the post was practically abolished by statute in 1904, the title and some of the duties being transferred to a legal official of the war office. ”

“ All were convicted of murder and sentenced to death, Rhodes subsequently receiving a free pardon and the sentence on the others being commuted to penal servitude for life (cf. J. B. Atlay's Trial of the Stauntons, 1911) . Hawkins tried at about the same time many other murder cases which attracted public attention, and this circumstance, together with the alliterative attractiveness of the phrase 'Hanging Hawkins,' gave rise to a loose popular impression that he was a judge of a peculiarly severe or even savage temper. ”

“ Smith, big and strong physically, was devoted to sport, and was in an exceptional degree 'a good fellow.' To these advantages he added cheerful and unremitting industry and great natural acuteness. Consequently it mattered very little that his voice was weak, or that he had no gift of eloquence, his language being to the end of his life confined to the homeliest vernacular. ”

“ Besides his prolonged and lucrative practice in the courts, Hawkins was continually employed in compensation cases, before either juries or arbitrators. In particular he appeared for the royal commissioners engaged in the purchase of the site where the Royal Courts of Justice now stand. He had also a considerable practice in election petitions, being perhaps the most conspicuous counsel available for the purpose when, after the general election of 1868, those disputes were first tried before judges and decided independently of political considerations. ”

“ His domestic happiness was complete and unbroken. His manifold activities and hospitable disposition brought him a large circle of friends, whom he entertained both in London and at his country house, Arlington Manor, Newbury, Berkshire. ”

“ A scholar, a calmly rational politician, and a man of almost dainty refinement both physically and morally, he devoted himself thenceforward to study, to authorship, and to the cultivation of the social amenities in which his experience was probably as wide and as remarkable as that of any one of his contemporaries. ”

“ In Sept. 1877 Hawkins tried at the Central Criminal Court 'the Penge case,' when Louis and Patrick Staunton, the wife of Patrick, and a servant named Alice Rhodes were jointly indicted for the murder, by ill-treatment and intentional neglect, of the wife of Louis. The case was on the wide borderland between murder and manslaughter, and the sufficiency of the evidence of complicity against Alice Rhodes was open to question. ”

“ In person Grant Duff was slight, delicately made, and habitually gentle in speech and manner, though he would upon occasion express himself with great animation. He suffered through life from indifferent health, and in particular from astigmatic vision to such an extent that it was extremely difficult for him to read or write for himself. ”

“ In 1880 he joined the second Gladstone ministry as under-secretary for the colonies, being sworn a member of the privy council on 8 May. It is probable that neither the domestic nor the colonial policy of the government during the next twelve months was supported by Grant Duff with unreserved enthusiasm, and on 26 June 1881 he accepted without hesitation the offer of the governorship of Madras, which brought to an end his twenty-four years' unbroken representation of his constituency in the House of Commons. ”

“ Educated at King's School, Bruton, Somerset, he matriculated as a commoner at Balliol College, Oxford, on 6 June 1856, at the early age of seventeen, and in 1857 was elected a scholar. Benjamin Jowett was his tutor, and he became one of Jowett's favourite pupils, continuing his intimate friend until Jowett's death, which took place at Wright's house, Hadley Park, in 1893. In the Easter term, 1859, Wright was placed in the first class in classical moderations, and in Michaelmas term, 1860, in the first class in the final classical school. ”

“ When he was originally retained for the defence in the action of ejectment, it was no doubt intended that he should cross-examine the plaintiff, but before the case came on for trial John Duke Coleridge [q. v. Suppl. I] , who had been instructed as one of the leaders of the western circuit, became solicitor-general, and as such the leader in the defence. ”

“ Hawkins was a small man of slender build, but his features were handsome and imposing and his aspect eminently judicial. He was extremely fond of horse-racing. He never ran horses himself, but was elected an honorary member of the Jockey Club in 1878, and an ordinary member in 1889. ”

“ He remained at Oxford until 1865, occupying himself in private tuition and classical studies. During this period he published the ‘Golden Treasury of Ancient Greek Poetry’ (1866) , subsequently revised (in 1889) by Evelyn Abbott, and in collaboration with J. E. L Shadwell, Christ Church, the ‘Golden Treasury of Ancient Greek Prose’ (1870) . In 1882 he was elected honorary fellow of Oriel. Wright had become a student of the Inner Temple on 20 Nov. ”

“ It was then determined to cure by legislation an ambiguity in the Judicature Acts as to the precise conditions in which a judge succeeded to the office of president of the probate division. An Act was passed creating a definite office of president of the probate, etc., division, with the judicial rank of one of the lords justices of appeal. The new arrangement practically involved that the president should always be a privy councillor. Of this office Jeune was the first holder. ”

“ At the end of 1881 Stephen, who had been made C.M.G. that year, was promoted second secretary and transferred to Teheran, being then in receipt of special allowances in respect of his knowledge of Russian, Turkish, and Persian. In 1882-3 he was employed on special service in Khorassan, the north-east province of Persia, at that time of critical importance as the neighbour both of Afghanistan and of that part of Central Asia over which the Russian power was extending. ”

“ Justice Mathew differed from their brethren in holding that the trade combination in question was not made unlawful by the fact that it was intended to injure and did injure another person for the benefit of those who combined. ”

“ It is probable that had he exerted himself to that end he might have filled the highest positions in his service, but in 1893 he accepted the office of chargé d'affaires at Coburg, and in 1897 was appointed minister resident both to Saxony and Coburg, his services being acknowledged by his creation in 1894 as K.C.M.G., and in 1900 as K.C.V.O. The discharge of his duties at Coburg involved close and constant personal relations with King Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, and various members of the English and the related royal families. ”

“ Field [q. v. Suppl; II] joined the Midland circuit, and obtained his first brief because he was the only person present who could speak German. He was one of the earHest contributors to the 'Saturday Review,' and lectured at the Working Men's College, of which Frederick Denison Maurice was first principal.
In December 1857 Grant Duff was returned as the liberal member for the Elgin Burghs, and held this seat without intermission until he was appointed governor of Madras in 1881. ”

“ During the next two years he sat fairly often in the House of Lords, and with Lord Bramwell [q. v. Suppl. I] he differed in 1891 from the majority in the important case of the Bank of England V. Vagliano [see Lidderdale, William, Suppl. II] . His closing years were passed principally at Bognor, and he died there on 22 Jan. 1907, and was buried in a family vault at Virginia Water. Field married in 1864 Louisa, daughter of John Smith, who died on 24 May 1880 without issue. ”

“ On leaving Oxford he settled in London and read for the bar, and in 1854 passed with honours, second to James Fitzjames (afterwards Mr. Justice) Stephen, who later became one of his most intimate friends for life, in the LL.B. examination of London University. ”

“ Smith's modesty, force of character, and great intelligence enabled him however to hold his own so effectively that he was appointed in October 1900 without any sign of dissatisfaction to succeed Lord Alverstone as Master of the Rolls. His health and strength soon began to fail. In August 1901 his wife, who had suffered from a long and distressing illness, was drowned in the Spey, near Aberlour, almost in his presence. Smith never recovered from the shock, and died at Wester-Elchies House, Aberlour, Morayshire, the residence of his son-in-law, Mr. ”

“ In his later years he also suffered from increasing deafness, and as he insisted upon hearing everytliing that was said, proceedings before him usually lasted longer than his impetuous nature would have permitted in more favourable circumstances. ”

“ He had entered as a student of the Inner Temple on 27 May 1856, and was called on 17 Nov. 1860, when he joined the home circuit. He rapidly acquired a good and increasing junior practice, being largely employed in commercial cases and in election petitions, and having a full pupil-room. ”

“ Waite, in which Roupell confessed himself guilty of forgery and was subsequently sentenced to penal servitude for life. He also appeared for various defendants in the prosecutions instituted after the failure of Messrs. ”