Sir Henry Honywood Curtis-Bennett, KC (31 July 1879 – 2 November 1936) was an English barrister and

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician. As a barrister, he led the defence in the 1922 cases of

Herbert Rowse Armstrong Herbert Rowse Armstrong TD MA (13 May 1869 – 31 May 1922) was an English solicitor and convicted murderer, the only solicitor in the history of the United Kingdom to have been hanged for murder. He was living in Cusop Dingle, Herefordshi ...

and of

Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters Edith Jessie Thompson (25 December 1893 – 9 January 1923) and Frederick Edward Francis Bywaters (27 June 1902 – 9 January 1923) were a British couple executed for the murder of Thompson's husband Percy. Their case became a ''cause c ...

. As a politician, he was the

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

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

from 1924 to 1926.

Life and career

Henry Honywood Curtis-Bennett was born at Brentwood,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, the son of Sir Henry Curtis-Bennett, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. His younger brother was the civil servant and sports administrator Sir Noel Curtis-Bennett. He was educated at

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, an ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, and was called to the bar by 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 1902. Unable to serve during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

on health grounds, Curtis-Bennett defended several accused spies, before being engaged by the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

to cross-examine suspected spies, including

Mata Hari Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 187615 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari (), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed ...

. He became a KC in 1919 and was knighted in 1922 for his wartime work. He was Conservative

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

from 1924 to 1926, when he resigned due to his wife suing for divorce. He was a "fashionable silk" who was often engaged in high-profile criminal cases, which earned him much press coverage. Among his famous cases were his defence of Mrs Edith Thompson in the Thompson and Bywaters murder case (1922), of solicitor

, hanged for the murder of his wife (1922), of

Ronald True Ronald True (17 June 1891 – 8 January 1951) was an English murderer who was convicted of the 1922 bludgeoning and murder by asphyxiation of a 25-year-old prostitute and call girl named Gertrude Yates. He was initially sentenced to death for Ya ...

for murder (1922), of

Jean-Pierre Vaquier Jean-Pierre Vaquier (14 July 1879 – 17 August 1924) was a French inventor and murderer. He was convicted in Britain of murdering the husband of his mistress by poisoning him with strychnine. Vaquier was born in Niort-de-Sault on Bastille Da ...

for murder (1924) and of Lord De Clifford for manslaughter (1935), the last trial of a peer by the House of Lords. On the prosecution side, he prosecuted

Patrick Mahon The Crumbles Murders are two separate and unrelated crimes which occurred on a shingle beach located between Eastbourne and Pevensey Bay, England—locally referred to as "the Crumbles"—in the 1920s. The first of these two murders is the 1920 ...

for murder (1924) and

Norman Thorne Norman Thorne (c. 1902 – 22 April 1925) was an England, English Sunday school teacher and chicken farmer who was convicted and hanged for what became known as the chicken run murder.

for murder (1925). On the civil side, he appeared as counsel in front of the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Women's Royal Air Force in 1918 and 1919. He was deputy chairman of the Essex

quarter sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...

from 1923 to 1925 and chairman from 1935 to 1936, as well as Recorder of

from 1929 to 1935. In 1936, he became the full-time Chairman of the County of London Sessions, to general surprise. In November that year, he died while addressing a dinner of the National Greyhound Racing Society at the Dorchester Hotel in London. His son Derek Curtis-Bennett from his first marriage also became a noted barrister, the third generation of the family to achieve legal distinction.

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* 1879 births 1936 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1924–1929 Knights Bachelor English King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel People educated at Radley College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Members of the Middle Temple 20th-century English judges {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1870s-stub

Life and career

References

Further reading

External links