Gavin Turnbull Simonds, 1st Viscount Simonds, (28 November 1881 – 28 June 1971) was a British judge, politician and
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
.
Background and education
Simonds was born in
Reading, Berkshire
Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...
, the son of Louis DeLuze Simonds and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Turnbull. They were members of a well-known Berkshire family of
brewing magnates (see
H & G Simonds Ltd). He 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 ...
(where he was later a Fellow, and Warden from 1946 to 1951) and at
New College, Oxford.
Legal and political career
Simonds was
called to the bar in 1906, and appointed a
King's Counsel in 1924. He was elected a Bencher of
Lincoln's Inn in 1929 and was Treasurer from 1951. He served as a Judge of the Chancery Division of 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 ...
between 1937, when he was knighted, and 1944. In the latter year he was appointed a
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary,
sworn of the
Privy Council and created a life peer as Baron Simonds, of Sparsholt in the County of Southampton.
Simonds remained a Law Lord until 1951, when
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
appointed him
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...
. He was holder of the office at the time of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, adding a major ceremonial role to his judicial one.
In June 1952 he was made a hereditary peer as Baron Simonds, of Sparsholt in the County of Southampton. He held this post until 1954, when he was created Viscount Simonds, of Sparsholt in the County of Southampton. He again served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1954 to 1962. He was also High Steward of
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
from 1954 to 1967, and High Steward of the City of
Winchester from 1951.
The ''Shaw v DPP'' case
In 1962 Simonds achieved some notoriety in the case of ''Shaw v DPP'',
where the House of Lords created the new criminal offence of "
conspiracy to corrupt public morals". He declared:
"In the sphere of criminal law I entertain no doubt that there remains in the Courts of Law a residual power to enforce the supreme and fundamental purpose of the law, to conserve not only the safety and order but also the moral welfare of the State, and that it is their duty to guard it against attacks which may be the more insidious because they are novel and unprepared for".
Lord Reid was the only dissenting judge, saying:
"Parliament is the proper place, and I am firmly of opinion the only proper place, ''(to pass new laws)''. Where Parliament fears to tread it is not for the courts to rush in".
Family
Lord Simonds had three sons who all predeceased him. Robert Francis Simonds died in infancy; John Mellor Simonds (1915–1944) was killed in action at Arnhem in 1944, and Gavin Alexander Simonds (1915–1951) died as a result of illness contracted on active service in East Africa in 1951. Consequently, the hereditary barony and viscountcy became extinct on his death in June 1971, aged 89.
Arms
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simonds, Gavin Turnbull Simonds, 1st Viscount
1881 births
1971 deaths
Alumni of New College, Oxford
Chancery Division judges
Contributors to Halsbury's Laws of England
English barristers
Knights Bachelor
Law lords
Lord chancellors of Great Britain
Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Ministers in the third Churchill government, 1951–1955
People educated at Summer Fields School
People educated at Winchester College
People from Reading, Berkshire
20th-century King's Counsel
20th-century English lawyers
Life peers created by George VI
Hereditary barons created by Elizabeth II
Viscounts created by Elizabeth II