Sir Robert Joseph Phillimore, 1st Baronet (5 November 1810 – 4 February 1885), was an English judge and politician. He was the last

Judge of the High Court of Admiralty The Judge of the High Court of Admiralty was established in 1483 he was the chief law officer of the High Court of Admiralty. The office holder was supported by various officials and existed until 1875. History The High Court of Admiralty was ...

from 1867 to 1875 bringing an end to an office that had lasted nearly 400 years.

Life

Born in

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...

, he was the third son of

Joseph Phillimore Joseph Phillimore (1775–1855) was an English civil lawyer and politician, Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford from 1809. Life The eldest son of Joseph Phillimore, vicar of Orton on the Hill, Leicestershire, by Mary, daughter of John Mac ...

, a well-known ecclesiastical lawyer. Educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, where a lifelong friendship with W. E. Gladstone began, his first appointment was to a clerkship in the board of control, where he remained from 1832 to 1835. Admitted as an advocate at

Doctors' Commons Doctors' Commons, also called the College of Civilians, was a society of lawyers practising civil (as opposed to common) law in London, namely ecclesiastical and admiralty law. Like the Inns of Court of the common lawyers, the society had buildi ...

in 1839, he was called to the bar at 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 an ...

in 1841, and rose very rapidly in his profession. He was engaged as counsel in almost every case of importance that came before the admiralty, probate or divorce courts, and became successively master of faculties, commissary of the deans and chapters of St. Paul's Cathedral and

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of ...

, official of the arch deaconries of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

and London, and chancellor of the dioceses of

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

and

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

. In 1853, he entered the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

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 of ...

for

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13,028 ...

. A moderate in politics, his energies were devoted to non-party measures, and in 1854 he introduced the bill for allowing ''

viva voce ''Viva voce'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "with living voice" but most often translated as "by word of mouth." It may refer to: *Word of mouth *A voice vote in a deliberative assembly *An oral exam **Thesis defence, in academia *Spoken evi ...

'' evidence in the ecclesiastical courts. He sat for Tavistock until 1857, when he offered himself as a candidate for

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, but was defeated. He was appointed judge of the

Cinque Ports The Confederation of Cinque Ports () is a historic group of coastal towns in south-east England – predominantly in Kent and Sussex, with one outlier (Brightlingsea) in Essex. The name is Old French, meaning "five harbours", and alludes to th ...

in 1855,

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 1858, and advocate general in admiralty in 1862. In 1867, he was sworn a member of the Privy Council and took his place as a member of the Judicial Committee. As a member of the Judicial Committee, one of his notable decisions was in the

Guibord case ''Brown v Les Curé et Marguilliers de l'Œuvre et Fabrique de Notre Dame de Montréal'', better known as the ''Guibord case'', was a decision in 1874 by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in an early Canadian legal dispute over the rela ...

, concerning church–state relations in Canada. In 1875, in accordance with the

Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 The Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 (37 & 38 Vict c 85) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced as a Private Member's Bill by Archbishop of Canterbury Archibald Campbell Tait, to limit what he perceived as the growing rit ...

, he resigned, and was succeeded by

Lord Penzance James Plaisted Wilde, 1st Baron Penzance, (12 July 1816 – 9 December 1899) was a noted United Kingdom, British judge and rose breeder who was also a proponent of the Baconian theory that the works usually attributed to William Shakespeare were ...

. When the

Judicature Act Judicature Act is a term which was used in the United Kingdom for legislation which related to the Supreme Court of Judicature. List United Kingdom :The Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c.66) :The Supreme Court of Judicature Ac ...

came into force the powers of the admiralty court were transferred to the High Court of Justice, and Sir Robert Phillimore was therefore the last judge of the historic court of the Lord High Admiral of England. He continued to sit as judge for the new admiralty, probate and divorce division until 1883, when he resigned. He wrote ''Ecclesiastical Law of the Church of England'', ''Commentaries on International Law'', and a translation of Lessing's '' Laokoon''. He married, in 1844, Charlotte Anne, daughter of John Denison of Ossington Hall, Newark. 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 1862, and created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1881. He died at

Shiplake Shiplake consists of three settlements: Shiplake, Shiplake Cross and Lower Shiplake. Together these villages form a civil parish situated beside the River Thames south of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The river forms the parish bounda ...

, near

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

, on 4 February 1885. His eldest son,

Walter Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

, also distinguished as an authority on ecclesiastical and admiralty law, became a judge of the high court in 1897 and was elevated to the peerage as

Baron Phillimore Baron Phillimore, of Shiplake in the County of Oxford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1918 for the former Judge of the High Court of Justice and Lord Justice of Appeal, Sir Walter Phillimore, 2nd Baronet. Th ...

in 1918.

Arms

References

Sources

* *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillimore, Robert 1810 births 1885 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Anglican theology and doctrine Phillimore, Robert, 1st Baronet British legal writers

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

English legal scholars English legal writers Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Tavistock People educated at Westminster School, London People from Westminster UK MPs 1852–1857 Knights Bachelor Members of Doctors' Commons People from Shiplake