William Patrick Spens, 1st Baron Spens,

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

, PC, KC (9 August 1885 – 15 November 1973) was a British lawyer, judge and Conservative politician. He served as

Chief Justice of India The chief justice of India (IAST: ) is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India as well as the highest-ranking officer of the Indian Judiciary. The Constitution of India grants power to the president of India to appoint, in consultation w ...

from 1943 to 1947.

Biography

Spens was the eldest of the six children of Nathaniel Spens, a chartered accountant and managing director of state liquidation, born in Glasgow and of Frimley,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, and Emily Jessie Connal. His parents were of

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

descent. Spens was educated at Rugby and

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, and was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1910. He served in the First World War as an adjutant in the 5th battalion of the

Queen's Royal Regiment The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Ar ...

. After the war Spens started practising as a lawyer and became a

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

(KC) in 1925. He unsuccessfully contested St Pancras South West in the 1929 general election, but was elected for

Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom * Ashford, Kent, a town ** ...

in 1933. In 1943 Spens was unexpectedly appointed

. He retained this post until 1947. He served from 1947 to 1948 as chairman of the tribunal set up to arbitrate between Indian judges disagreeing over the concept and substance of the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

which had been announced by

Lord Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of German ...

and was being detailed by Sir Cyril Radcliffe's two boundary commissions (one for Bengal, one for present-day Pakistan).Read, A. and Fisher, D. (1997). The Proudest Day: India's Long Road to Independence. New York: Norton pp 440-470 Spens returned to Britain in 1949, and the following year he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Kensington South. He stood down from Parliament in its recall for the 1959 general election. Spens was knighted in 1943, appointed a

in 1948 and admitted to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in 1953. After his retirement from the House of Commons in 1959 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Spens, of Blairsanquhar in the County of Fife. Spens married firstly Hilda Mary, daughter of Wentworth Grenville Bowyer, in 1913. They had two sons. After his first wife's death in 1962 he married secondly Kathleen Annie Fedden, daughter of Roger Dodds. Lord Spens died in November 1973, aged 88. He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest and only surviving son, William.

Notes

References

*Blake, Lord, Nicholls, C. S (editors). ''The Dictionary of National Biography, 1971-1980''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986. *Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spens, Patrick 1885 births 1973 deaths People educated at Rugby School Alumni of New College, Oxford British Army personnel of World War I Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Chairmen of the 1922 Committee Chief justices of India British people in colonial India Queen's Royal Regiment officers Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs who were granted peerages Hereditary barons created by Elizabeth II