Richard Martin Bingham, TD, QC (26 October 1915 – 26 July 1992) was a British barrister and politician who later served as a judge.

Education and Army career

Educated at Harrow and

Clare College Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, Bingham was a Major 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 ...

during 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 ...

. However, he found the time to finish his legal training and was called to the Bar (

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 1940. His wartime service included

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

in 1944. He had been in the Territorial Army since 1937, where he served with the 59th Medical Regiment until 1949; he held the rank of Major from 1945.

Politics

He did not begin legal practice until demobilised in 1946, when he joined the Northern Circuit. In the same year he was elected as a

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 ...

member of

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...

, on which he served for three years. In 1957, Bingham was elected to Parliament as Conservative MP for

Liverpool Garston Liverpool Garston was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP ...

at a byelection.

Legal career

The author of a standard work on negligence cases, his legal career progressed with appointment as Recorder of

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

in 1960, and as a 'Bencher' of the Inner Temple in 1964. Bingham became a

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 ...

on the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

in 1965 and was also appointed to a Home Office departmental committee on

Coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

s. Bingham stood down from Parliament at the 1966 general election, and was appointed to the Royal Commission on Assizes and Quarter Sessions. In 1972 Bingham was appointed a Circuit Judge and resigned his post on the Isle of Man. He served as a Judge for 16 years.

References

*M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981) *''Who Was Who''.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bingham, Richard 1915 births 1992 deaths Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Manx judges Royal Artillery officers British Army personnel of World War II Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Councillors in Liverpool UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Liverpool constituencies Members of the Inner Temple 20th-century English judges People educated at Harrow School