Sir Joseph Donaldson Cantley, (8 August 1910 – 6 January 1993) was an English barrister and later a High Court judge. He is most notable for presiding over the trial of

Jeremy Thorpe John Jeremy Thorpe (29 April 1929 – 4 December 2014) was a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979, and as leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. In May 1979 he was tried at th ...

in 1979.

Early life

Cantley was born in Manchester, where his father was a general practitioner. He was educated at

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...

and then studied law at

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. He was called to the bar 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 ...

in 1933, and came top in his bar finals examination, gaining first-class honours and the Certificate of Honour.

Legal career

He became a barrister in Manchester, with a pupillage under Denis Gerrard and then practising on the

Northern Circuit {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The Northern Circuit is a court circuit in England. It dates from 1176 when Henry II sent his judges on circuit to do justice in his name. The Circuit encompassed the whole of the North of England but in 1876 i ...

. Cantley served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in 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 ...

, first in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

and then on staff appointments, spending time in North Africa and Italy. He was appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) in 1945, and was demobilised as a

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. He returned to the bar after the war. He had a mixed practice, specialising in

contract law A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

cases. He became a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1954, and a

Bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher can ...

at Middle Temple in 1963. He served as Treasurer at Middle Temple in 1981. One of his last trials was leading for the prosecution when Gwynne Evans and Peter Allen were convicted for the

murder of John Alan West The murder of John Alan West on 7 April 1964 was the crime which led to the last death sentences being carried out in the United Kingdom. West, a 53-year-old van driver for a laundry company, was beaten and stabbed to death by Gwynne Evans and P ...

in 1964, which led to the last two judicial executions in Britain before the abolition of the death penalty in 1965.

Judicial career

Cantley became Judge of the Court of Record in the

Hundred of Salford The Salford Hundred (also known as Salfordshire) was one of the subdivisions of the historic county of Lancashire, in Northern England (see:Hundred (county division). Its name alludes to its judicial centre being the township of Salford (the s ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

in 1960, and was

Judge of Appeal The Judge of Appeal is a part-time judge in the Isle of Man High Court who only sits in the Staff of Government Division, the appeal court. The position was created by the Judicature (Amendment) Act 1918 which also amalgamated the offices of F ...

in the

Isle of Man High Court The High Court of Justice of the Isle of Man is governed by the High Court Act 1991. There are four permanent judges of the High Court: *the First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls *the Second Deemster *a full-time additional deemster *the Judg ...

from 1962 to 1965. He was appointed as a High Court judge in 1965, allocated to the

Queen's Bench Division The King's Bench Division (or Queen's Bench Division when the monarch is female) of the High Court of Justice deals with a wide range of common law cases and has supervisory responsibility over certain lower courts. It hears appeals on point ...

, and received the customary

knighthood 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 church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

. He was Presiding Judge on the Northern Circuit from 1970 to 1974. He had a low public profile until he presided at the

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

in May–June 1979, shortly after the

1979 UK general election The 1979 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher, ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with ...

on 3 May 1979 - so much so that no press agency could find a photograph of him. Thorpe was acquitted, and Cantley's summing up roundly condemned the prosecution witnesses and praised the defendants, while claiming not to express an opinion. At the 1979 '' Secret Policeman's Ball'', in aid of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, the biased summing up speech by Mr Justice Cantley was parodied by

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...

. The sketch was written and delivered shortly after the trial and was, according to Freeman and Penrose, "actually not that different from the original." The nine-minute opus, "Entirely a Matter for You", is considered to be one of the finest works of Cook's career. Cook and show producer Martin Lewis brought out an album on

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

entitled ''Here Comes the Judge: Live'' of the live performance together with three studio tracks that further lampooned the Thorpe trial. Notwithstanding marked and widespread public disquiet at the biased summing-up in the Thorpe trial, Cantley was considered as Presiding Judge on the

South Eastern Circuit The Circuit Court ( ga, An Chúirt Chuarda) of Ireland is an intermediate level court of local and limited jurisdiction which hears both civil and criminal matters. On the criminal side the Circuit Court hears criminal matters tried on indictmen ...

, but declined in order to become Treasurer of Middle Temple in 1981.

Personal life and death

Cantley married Hilda Goodwin Gerrard (née Jones) in 1966, widow of his former pupil-master, Albert Denis Gerrard. He retired from the bench in 1985. In later life, he lived with his wife in the Temple and attended the

Temple Church The Temple Church is a Royal peculiar church in the City of London located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters. It was consecrated on 10 February 1185 by Patriarch Heraclius of J ...

. Cantley died in London on 6 January 1993 following several years of ill health, aged 82. His wife Hilda died on 11 September 1995, aged 95.

References

Obituary
The Independent, 9 January 1993
Portrait
National Portrait Gallery
History's Greatest Scandals
Ed Wright, p. 76, 2011,
Our Corrupt Legal System
Evan Whitton, p. 147, 2010, {{DEFAULTSORT:Cantley, Joseph Donaldson 1910 births 1993 deaths Queen's Bench Division judges Lawyers from Manchester People educated at Manchester Grammar School Alumni of the University of Manchester Members of the Middle Temple Royal Artillery officers British Army personnel of World War II Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century British lawyers Knights Bachelor 20th-century English lawyers