Herbert Stephen

“ In 1868 Hannen was appointed a judge of the court of queen's bench, made serjeant-at-law (15 April 1868) , and knighted (14 May) ; and in 1872 judge of the court of probate and the divorce court, on which occasion he was sworn of the privy council. In 1875 he became, by the operation of the judicature acts, president of the probate, divorce, and admiralty division of the high court, and held that office until he was created a lord of appeal in ordinary in 1891 ”

“ At the general election of 1865 he was elected M.P. for Exeter, as a liberal, and sat for that city until his appointment as chief justice of the common pleas in 1873. As a private member he took an active part in the successful movement for the abolition of religious tests in the universities, and consistently supported the proposal to disestablish the Irish church. ”

“ He was always interested in political economy, and to the end of his life strove vigorously in the House of Lords and in the columns of the ‘Times’ for freedom of contract—meaning the unchecked power of making contracts, and the means of enforcing them after they were made—and the cognate matters which had been the popular commonplaces of the middle of the century, and underwent so much socialistic modification in its last quarter. ”

“ Coleridge retained the office of chief justice of the common pleas for seven years, and was the last person who ever held it. In 1880, on the death of Lord-chief-justice Cockburn, Coleridge was appointed chief justice of the queen's bench, and the offices of chief justice of the common pleas and chief baron of the exchequer (vacant by the death of Chief-baron Kelly) were abolished under the Judicature Acts. ”

“ In the action of ejectment, tried in the court of common pleas before Chief-justice Bovill, Coleridge led for the defendants, his juniors being Messrs. Hawkins (now Lord Brampton) , Honyman (afterwards Mr. Justice Honyman) , C. Barber, and Charles (afterwards Lord) Bowen. His cross-examination of the 'claimant' [see Orton, Arthur, Suppl.] lasted three weeks, and though it was considered lacking in startling or exciting episodes, entirely destroyed in the minds of all reasonable persons who followed it any possibility of belief in the plaintiff's assertion that he was Roger Tichborne. ”

“ An American who stayed with him as his guest is asserted to have ascertained that he told two hundred different anecdotes in the course of three rainy days, for the amusement of an ambassador who was confined to the house by a cold, and that none of them were tiresome. ”

“ He seems to have begun speedily to acquire practice in London, and to have done well as a junior both on circuit and at the Guildhall. He was described by a contemporary as a 'clear but frigid and passionless speaker, accurate, precise, and painstaking, well endowed with practical good sense.' It was 'understood,' with the reserve which in those days was the proper thing in respect of men who hoped for success at the bar, that he reported for the ' Morning Chronicle ' and wrote for the press. ”

“ Cotton (afterwards bishop of Calcutta) , and subsequently Mr, Bradley (now dean of Westminster) . As a schoolboy he was most remarkable for his combination of scholastic and athletic distinction. He always occupied the highest place in the school open to a boy of his age and standing. In November 1853 he was elected a scholar of Balliol, and at Rugby in July 1854 obtained the first exhibition {facile princeps) , the queen's medal for modern history, and the prize for a Latin essay. ”