Travers Christmas Humphreys, QC (15 February 1901 – 13 April 1983) was a British

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

who prosecuted several controversial cases in the 1940s and 1950s, and who later became a judge at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

. He also wrote a number of works on

Mahayana Buddhism ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...

and in his day was the best-known British convert to Buddhism. In 1924 he founded what became the London

Buddhist Society The Buddhist Society is a UK registered charity which aims to encourage the study and practice of Buddhist principles. The Buddhist Society is an inter-denominational and non-sectarian lay organization. It offers talks and classes on the teach ...

, which was to have a seminal influence on the growth of the Buddhist tradition in Britain. His former home in

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...

, London, is now a Buddhist temple. He was an enthusiastic proponent of the

Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship The Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship contends that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote the plays and poems of William Shakespeare. While historians and literary scholars overwhelmingly reject alternative authorship candidate ...

Early life

Humphreys was born in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

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 ...

, the son of

Travers Humphreys Sir Richard Somers Travers Christmas Humphreys (4 August 1867 – 20 February 1956) was a noted British barrister and judge who, during a sixty-year legal career, was involved in the cases of Oscar Wilde and the murderers Hawley Harvey Crippen, ...

, a noted barrister and judge. His given name "Christmas" is unusual, but, along with "Travers", had a long history in the Humphreys family. Among friends and family he was generally known as 'Toby'. He was educated at

Malvern College Malvern College is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent coeducational day and boarding school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school in the British sen ...

, where he first became a

theosophist Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

, and at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

Theosophy and buddhism

The death of his elder brother shocked Humphreys into reflection about his beliefs, and at age 17 he found himself drawn to Buddhism. In 1924, Humphreys founded the London Buddhist Lodge (later the

). The impetus came from several theosophists with whom Humphreys corresponded, chief among them being Annie Besant (President of

the Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...

1907-1933) and George S. Arundale (President 1933-1947). Both at his home and at the lodge he played host to a variety of spiritual authorities and writers including

Nicholas Roerich Nicholas Roerich (; October 9, 1874 – December 13, 1947), also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (russian: link=no, Никола́й Константи́нович Ре́рих), was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophi ...

Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975), natively Radhakrishnayya, was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He served as the 2nd President of India from 1962 to 1967. He also 1st Vice President of India from 1952 ...

Alice Bailey Alice Ann Bailey (June 16, 1880 – December 15, 1949) was a writer of more than twenty-four books on theosophical subjects, and was one of the first writers to use the term New Age. Bailey was born as Alice La Trobe-Bateman, in Manchest ...

and

D.T. Suzuki , self-rendered in 1894 as "Daisetz", was a Japanese-American Buddhist monk, essayist, philosopher, religious scholar, translator, and writer. He was a scholar and author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in s ...

. Other regular visitors in the 1930s were the Russian singer

Vladimir Rosing Vladimir Sergeyevich Rosing (russian: Владимир Серге́евич Розинг) (November 24, 1963), also known as Val Rosing, was a Russian-born operatic tenor and stage director who spent most of his professional career in the United ...

and the philosopher

Alan Watts Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was an English writer, speaker and self-styled "philosophical entertainer", known for interpreting and popularising Japanese, Chinese and Indian traditions of Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu ...

. In 1931 Humphreys met the spiritual teacher

Meher Baba Meher Baba (born Merwan Sheriar Irani; 25 February 1894 – 31 January 1969) was an Indian spiritual master who said he was the Avatar, or God in human form, of the age. A major spiritual figure of the 20th century, he had a following of ...

. The Buddhist Society is one of the oldest Buddhist organisations outside Asia with Western founders. In 1945, Humphreys drafted the Twelve Principles of Buddhism for which he obtained the approval of all the Buddhist sects in Japan (including the Shin Sect which was not associated with Olcott's common platform), the

Supreme Patriarch of Thailand __NOTOC__ The Supreme Patriarch of Thailand or Sangharaja ( th, สังฆราช; ) is the head of the order of Buddhist monks in Thailand. His full title is ''Somdet Phra Saṅgharāja Sakalamahāsaṅghapariṇāyaka'' ( th, สมเด� ...

, and leading Buddhists of

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, China, and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. In the same year, Humphreys received the news of the death of one of his mentors, George S. Arundale. He later assembled and collated some of Arundale's unpublished works, a collection of which he left to the Theosophical Society on his death in 1983.

Legal career

Humphreys was called to the bar by the

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 1924. When first qualified, he tended to take criminal defence work, making use of his skills in

cross-examination In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India and Pakistan known as examination-in-chief) and m ...

. In 1934, he was appointed Junior Treasury Counsel at the Central Criminal Court ("the Old Bailey"). Humphreys became

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

Deal A deal, or deals may refer to: Places United States * Deal, New Jersey, a borough * Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Deal Lake, New Jersey Elsewhere * Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia * Deal, Kent, a town in England * Deal, ...

in 1942, a part-time judicial post. In the aftermath of World War II, he became an assistant prosecutor in the

War Crimes trials A war crimes trial is the trial of persons charged with criminal violation of the laws and customs of war and related principles of international law committed during armed conflict. History The trial of Peter von Hagenbach by an ad hoc tribu ...

held in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. In 1950 he was appointed Senior Treasury Counsel, in which role he led for the Crown in some of the causes célèbre of the era, including the cases of Craig & Bentley and Ruth Ellis. It was he who secured the conviction of

Timothy Evans Timothy John Evans (20 November 1924 – 9 March 1950) was a Welshman who was wrongly accused of murdering his wife (Beryl) and infant daughter (Geraldine) at their residence in Notting Hill, London. In January 1950, Evans was tried, and was c ...

for a murder later found to have been carried out by John Christie. All three cases played a part in the later abolition of

capital punishment in the United Kingdom Capital punishment in the United Kingdom predates the formation of the UK, having been used within the British Isles from ancient times until the second half of the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging, and t ...

. At the 1950 trial of the nuclear spy

Klaus Fuchs Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs (29 December 1911 – 28 January 1988) was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who supplied information from the American, British and Canadian Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union during and shortly aft ...

, Humphreys was the prosecuting counsel for the Attorney General. In 1955, he was made 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 ...

of his Inn and the next year became Recorder of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

. In 1962 Humphreys became a Commissioner at the Old Bailey. He was appointed an Additional Judge there in 1968 and served on the bench until his retirement in 1976. Increasingly he became willing to court controversy with his judicial pronouncements. In 1975, he passed a six-month suspended jail sentence on an 18-year-old man convicted of raping two women at knife-point. The leniency of the sentence created a public outcry. His sentence of a man to eighteen months in jail for a fraud shortly afterwards added to the controversy.Damien P. Horigan, "Christmas Humphreys: A Buddhist Judge in Twentieth Century London", ''Korean Journal of Comparative Law'', vol. 24., p. 1-16. The

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

defended Humphreys in the face of a

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. ...

motion to dismiss him, and he also received support from the National Association of Probation Officers. However, pressure was put on him to resign, which he did some six months after the controversy.

Literary and arts career

Humphreys was a prolific author of books on the Buddhist tradition. He was also president of the Shakespeare Fellowship, a position to which he was elected in 1955. The Fellowship advanced the theory that the plays generally attributed to Shakespeare were in fact the work of

Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (; 12 April 155024 June 1604) was an English peer and courtier of the Elizabethan era. Oxford was heir to the second oldest earldom in the kingdom, a court favourite for a time, a sought-after patron of ...

. Under Humphreys the fellowship changed its name to the Shakespeare Authorship Society. He helped found the Ballet Guild in 1941 and acted as its chairman. In 1962 Humphreys was appointed Vice-President of the Tibet Society, and made Joint Vice-Chairman of the Royal India, Pakistan and Ceylon Society. Humphreys published his autobiography ''Both Sides of the Circle'' in 1978. He also wrote poetry, especially verses inspired by his Buddhist beliefs, one of which posed the question: ''When I die, who dies?''

Death

Humphreys died at his London home, 58 Marlborough Place, St John's Wood.

Portrayal in film

Humphreys was portrayed on screen by

Geoffrey Chater Geoffrey Michael Chater Robinson (23 March 1921 – 16 October 2021) was an English film, television and stage actor. He appeared in the crime drama series '' Callan'', ''Foyle's War'' and ''Midsomer Murders''. Biography Geoffrey Michael Chat ...

in the 1971 film 10 Rillington Place, about the

Evans Evans may refer to: People *Evans (surname) *List of people with surname Evans Places United States *Evans Island, an island of Alaska *Evans, Colorado *Evans, Georgia *Evans County, Georgia *Evans, New York *Evans Mills, New York *Evans City, ...

– Christie murder case.

Published works

As author

*''An Invitation to the Buddhist Way of Life for Western Readers'' *''Both Sides of the Circle'' (1978) London:

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...

(autobiography) *''Buddhism: An Introduction and Guide'' *''Buddhism: The History, Development and Present Day Teaching of the Various Schools'' *''Buddhist Poems: a Selection, 1920–1970'' (1971) London: Allen & Unwin, *''A Buddhist Students' Manual'' *''The Buddhist Way of Action'' *''The Buddhist Way of Life'' *''Concentration and Meditation: A Manual of Mind Development'' *''The Development of Buddhism in England: Being a History of the Buddhist Movement in London and the Provinces'' (1937) *''Exploring Buddhism'' *''The Field of Theosophy'' *''The Great Pearl Robbery of 1913: A Record of Fact (1929) *''An Invitation to the Buddhist Way of Life for Western Readers'' (1971) *''Karma and Rebirth'' (1948) *''The Menace in our Midst: With Some Criticisms and Comments, Relevant and Irrelevant'' *''One Hundred treasures of the Buddhist Society, London'' (1964) *''Poems I Remember'' *''Poems of Peace and War'' (1941) London: The Favil Press *''A Popular Dictionary of Buddhism'' *''A Religion for Modern Youth'' (1930) *''The Search Within'' *''Seven Murderers'' (1931) London:

Heinemann Heinemann may refer to: * Heinemann (surname) * Heinemann (publisher), a publishing company * Heinemann Park, a.k.a. Pelican Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States See also * Heineman * Jamie Hyneman James Franklin Hyneman (born Se ...

*''Sixty Years of Buddhism in England (1907–1967): A History and a Survey'' *''Studies in the Middle Way: Being Thoughts on Buddhism Applied'' *''The Sutra of Wei Lang (or Hui Neng)'' (1944) *''Via Tokyo'' *''Walk On'' *''The Way of Action: The Buddha's Way to Enlightenment'' *''The Way of Action: A Working Philosophy for Western Life'' *''A Western Approach to Zen: An Enquiry'' *''The Wisdom of Buddhism'' *''Zen A Way of Life'' *''Zen Buddhism'' *''Zen Comes West: The Present and Future of Zen Buddhism in Britain'' *''Zen Comes West: Zen Buddhism in Western Society''

As editor

(editor of works by Daisetz Taitaro Suzuki): *''Awakening of Zen'' *''Essays in Zen Buddhism (The Complete Works of D. T. Suzuki)'' *''An Introduction to Zen Buddhism'' *''Living by Zen'' *''Studies in Zen'' *''The Zen Doctrine of No Mind: The Significance of the Sutra of Hui-Neng (Wei-Lang)''

As co-editor

*''

The Secret Doctrine ''The Secret Doctrine, the Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy'', is a pseudo-scientific esoteric book originally published as two volumes in 1888 written by Helena Blavatsky. The first volume is named ''Cosmogenesis'', the second ''An ...

'' by

H.P. Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, uk, Олена Петрівна Блаватська, Olena Petrivna Blavatska (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875 ...

*'' The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett''

Forewords and prefaces

*''Buddhism in Britain'' by Ian P. Oliver, (1979) London: Rider & Company, *''Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui-neng'' (Shambhala Classics) by W. Y. Evans-Wentz (foreword), Christmas Humphreys (foreword), Wong Mou-Lam (translator), A F Price (translator) *''Essays In Zen Buddhism (Third Series)'' by

D. T. Suzuki , self-rendered in 1894 as "Daisetz", was a Japanese-American Buddhist monk, essayist, philosopher, religious scholar, translator, and writer. He was a scholar and author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in s ...

*''Living Zen'' by

Robert Linssen Robert Linssen (11 April 1911 – 15 May 2004) was a Belgian Zen Buddhist and author. Linssen wrote in French, but many of his texts have been translated into other languages including English. Like other Western authorities on the subject of Z ...

*''Mahayana Buddhism: A Brief Outline'' by Beatrice Lane Suzuki *''Some Sayings of the Buddha''

References

External links

Biography of Christmas Humphreys
{{DEFAULTSORT:Humphreys, Christmas 20th-century Buddhists 1901 births 1983 deaths 20th-century English judges Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge English Buddhists Converts to Buddhism Mahayana Buddhism writers People educated at Malvern College People from Ealing Shakespearean scholars 20th-century poets English King's Counsel