Sir Alfred Aspinall Tobin (26 December 1855 – 30 November 1939) was a British lawyer and judge who served as the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Preston between 1910 and 1915. Tobin's grandfather, Thomas Tobin, had been a prominent Liverpool merchant; his son, James Aspinall Tobin, followed him into the same line of business and rose to become the Mayor of Liverpool in 1854–55. Alfred Tobin was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

, where he took prizes in Greek or Latin, and then at

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

, where he took first-class honours in law and history. ''Preston Herald'' - Saturday 15 May 1915
/ref> He then trained as a barrister at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

, where he was called to the bar in 1880 and devilled for

William Rann Kennedy Sir William Rann Kennedy, (11 March 1846 – 17 January 1915) was a British jurist and Lord Justice of Appeal and accomplished classical scholar. Life Kennedy was born in the family home at 9 Campden Hill Villas, Kensington, London on 11 M ...

. He was appointed a

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in 1903. His most prominent cases were in a series of major lawsuits following the

1907 Kingston earthquake The 1907 Kingston earthquake which shook the capital of the island of Jamaica with a magnitude of 6.2 on the moment magnitude scale on Monday January 14, at about 3:30 p.m. local time (20:36 Coordinated universal time, UTC), is described by t ...

, where he was leading counsel for a group of insurers, and as the defence barrister in the 1910 trial of

Dr. Crippen Hawley Harvey Crippen (September 11, 1862 – November 23, 1910), usually known as Dr. Crippen, was an American homeopath, ear and eye specialist and medicine dispenser. He was hanged in Pentonville Prison in London for the murder of his wife Co ...

. He was appointed as

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of Salford in 1904,"Tobin, His Honour Sir Alfred Aspinall"
''Who Was Who'' where he was noted as a conscientious judge, particularly when dealing with young offenders and inexperienced barristers. He unsuccessfully contested the Liverpool Scotland seat in the 1906 general election, and was elected as the

candidate at Preston in the general election of January 1910, then re-elected in December that year. His

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

was in March 1910, when he spoke about Preston's denominational schools in a debate on Training Colleges. He was appointed a Judge of the County Courts for Herefordshire and Shropshire in 1915, causing his resignation from Parliament and a subsequent by-election in Preston. In 1919 he transferred to the Westminster County Court, from where he retired in 1935, aged eighty. In his private life, he was a keen traveller, particularly in Italy, Greece, and Palestine, where he was once captured and ransomed while travelling in the

Transjordan Transjordan may refer to: * Transjordan (region), an area to the east of the Jordan River * Oultrejordain, a Crusader lordship (1118–1187), also called Transjordan * Emirate of Transjordan, British protectorate (1921–1946) * Hashemite Kingdom of ...

. He was also an active

freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, and master of two Lodges.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tobin, Alfred Aspinall 1855 births 1939 deaths 20th-century King's Counsel Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 20th-century English judges Knights Bachelor County Court judges (England and Wales)