Walter George Frank Phillimore, 1st Baron Phillimore, (21 November 1845 – 13 March 1929), known as Sir Walter Phillimore, 2nd Baronet, from 1885 to 1918, was a British lawyer and judge.

Biography

Phillimore was the son of Sir Robert Phillimore, 1st Baronet, and of Charlotte Phillimore (''née'' Denison). His mother was the sister of

Evelyn Denison, 1st Viscount Ossington John Evelyn Denison, 1st Viscount Ossington, PC (27 January 1800 – 7 March 1873) was a British statesman who served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1857 to 1872. He is the eponym of Speaker Denison's rule. Background and education De ...

and of Edward Denison. He was 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, where he held a studentship. At Oxford he took Firsts in Classics, Law, and Modern History, was Secretary and Treasurer of the

Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest ...

, and was awarded the

Vinerian Scholarship The Vinerian Scholarship is a scholarship given to the University of Oxford student who "gives the best performance in the examination for the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law". Currently, £2,500 is given to the winner of the scholarship, with an ...

. He was also elected a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He 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 1868, and joined the Western Circuit. Phillimore was an eminent ecclesiastical lawyer, and mostly practiced in front of ecclesiastical and admiralty courts, seldom appearing in front of the

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

courts. He was involved in many famous ecclesiastical cases, often related to ritualistic controversies. He also gave the opinion in the 1884 case of the Home Office Baby. In 1872 he was appointed Chancellor of the Diocese of Lincoln. In 1883 he was given a

patent of precedence A patent of precedence is a grant to an individual by letters patent of a higher social or professional position than the precedence to which his ordinary rank entitles him. Historical use in the English legal profession The principal instance in r ...

(the last ever granted) giving him the same privileges as a

Queen'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 o ...

, though he was never appointed a QC. In 1885, upon his father's death, he succeeded to the Phillimore baronetcy. He was a Judge of the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (Englan ...

from 1897 to 1913 and a Lord Justice of Appeal from 1913 to 1916. In 1902 he represented the United Kingdom at a meeting of an International Maritime Committee in Hamburg, which debated a draft treaty relating to a uniform law concerning collisions and maritime salvage. In 1913, he was admitted to the Privy Council and on 2 July 1918 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Phillimore, of

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 ...

in the

County of Oxford Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. In 1918 he chaired the Phillimore Committee, appointed by the British government to report on proposals for a

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

. The committee was established in January 1918 after being suggested to

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the ...

by Lord Robert Cecil.George W. Egerton, ''Great Britain and the Creation of the League of Nations'' (The University of North Carolina Press, 1978), pp. 37-38. Lord Phillimore died in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in March 1929, aged 83, and was succeeded in his titles by his son Godfrey. 1stLordPhillimore

Arms

References

Bibliography

* Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990. * . * W. A. B. (1928)
The Right Hon. Baron Phillimore of Shiplake, Baronet, PC, DCL, LLD, JP
, ''Transactions of the Grotius Society'', Vol. 14, Problems of Peace and War, Papers Read before the Society in the Year 1928, ''pp''v-ix.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillimore, Walter George Frank 1845 births 1929 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom 19th-century English judges 20th-century English judges Law lords Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Members of Kensington Metropolitan Borough Council Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple Lords Justices of Appeal Barons created by George V Honorary Fellows of the British Academy Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom