Sir John Anthony Hawke (7 June 1869 – 30 October 1941), known as Anthony Hawke and later as Mr Justice Hawke, was a Unionist politician in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

who served in the 1920s as

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 o ...

(MP) for St Ives in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, before becoming a High Court judge.

Life

Educated at Merchant Taylors' School and St John's College, Oxford (where he was a scholar and gained first class Honours in Law), Hawke was called to the bar from the

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 ...

in 1892. He joined the Western Circuit in 1893 and went on to become Attorney-General to the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

(1923–1928) and Recorder of Plymouth.'HAWKE, Sir (John) Anthony' in ''

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...

'', A. & C. Black, 1920–2008
online edition
(subscription required) by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2007, accessed 14 December 2011 He was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

at his first attempt, at the 1922 general election, when he defeated the sitting

National Liberal National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism). A seri ...

Member, Sir Clifford Cory. Cory regained the seat at the 1923 general election but was again unseated by Hawke at the 1924 election. Hawke resigned from

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

in 1928, when he was appointed to the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (Englan ...

. He was knighted at the same time. He died on circuit in 1941. He was a member of the Carlton,

Garrick Garrick may refer to: * Garrick (name), for the name's origin and people with either the surname or given name, the most famous being: ** David Garrick (1717–1779), English actor * Garrick Club, a London gentlemen's club named in honour of David ...

, Devon and Exeter, and Royal Western Yacht clubs. He married Winifred Edith Laura (née Stevens) and their son

Sir Edward Anthony Hawke ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English language, English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist i ...

was also a judge and the

Common Serjeant of London The Common Serjeant of London (full title The Serjeant-at-Law in the Common Hall) is an ancient British legal office, first recorded in 1291, and is the second most senior permanent judge of the Central Criminal Court after the Recorder of Lon ...

and

Recorder of London The Recorder of London is an ancient legal office in the City of London. The Recorder of London is the senior circuit judge at the Central Criminal Court (the Old Bailey), hearing trials of criminal offences. The Recorder is appointed by the Cr ...

.Fred E. Pritchard, ‘Hawke, Sir (Edward) Anthony (1895–1964)’, rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 9 Dec 2016
/ref>

Notable cases

Court of Appeal

Hawke sat with

Lord Chief Justice Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

Hewart and Mr Justice Branson in the Court of Criminal Appeal on 18 and 19 May 1931 to hear an appeal against a conviction for murder in R. v. Wallace. For the first time ever, the Court overturned a conviction in a capital case on the ground that the verdict "can not be supported having regard to the evidence".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawke, Anthony 1869 births 1941 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for St Ives UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1924–1929 Queen's Bench Division judges Knights Bachelor Members of the Middle Temple People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood