Sir Ashton Wentworth Roskill, QC (1 January 1902 – 23 June 1991) was a British barrister and public servant. Ashton Roskill was the eldest of the four sons of the barrister John Henry Roskill KC and his wife Sybil Mary Wentworth, ''née'' Dilke (1879–1931), daughter of

Ashton Wentworth Dilke Ashton Wentworth Dilke (11 August 1850 – 12 March 1883) was an editor, British traveller and radical Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 to 1883. Life Dilke was the younger son of Sir Charles Dilke, 1st Baronet, and w ...

MP, who was the younger brother of the republican MP

Sir Charles Dilke, 2nd Baronet Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 2nd Baronet, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC (4 September 1843 – 26 January 1911) was an English Liberal Party (UK), Liberal and Radical politician. A republicanism, republican in the early 1870s, ...

. Ashton Roskill's three brothers all achieved distinction: Stephen Wentworth Roskill (1903–1982) was a distinguished naval historian, Oliver Wentworth Roskill (1906–1994), was one of the United Kingdom's first industrial consultants, and Eustace Wentworth Roskill, Baron Roskill of Newtown (1911–1996), was a

lord of appeal in ordinary Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

. Roskill was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

and at

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...

, where he was a

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

and took

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in modern history. He was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

by the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1925, having obtained a certificate of honour in his bar examinations. After

pupillage A pupillage, in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan and Hong Kong, is the final, vocational stage of training for those wishing to become practising barristers. Pupillage is similar to an apprenticeship, during which bar ...

with D. N. Pritt, he joint Pritt's chambers and built a general practice. His legal career was interrupted by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, during which he worked for

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...

from 1940 to 1945. Returning to the bar after the war, he was made a

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in 1949. His practice, then mainly commercial, was said to be one of high quality, though of limited size, which was thought to have prevented his elevation to the High Court bench. Having been a part-time member of the

Monopolies Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

since 1960, he was appointed chairman of the Monopolies Commission in 1965. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1967, and stepped down as chairman in 1975, after a successful tenure.

References

* https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-49947 *https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp63212/sir-ashton-wentworth-roskill {{DEFAULTSORT:Roskill, Ashton 1902 births 1991 deaths 20th-century King's Counsel 20th-century British lawyers Knights Bachelor English King's Counsel People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Members of the Inner Temple MI5 personnel