Sir Robert Alexander Gatehouse Escutcheon

Sir Robert Alexander Gatehouse (30 January 1924 – 30 October 2002) was a British barrister and judge. He was a Justice of the High Court (Queen's Bench Division) from 1985 to 1996.

Biography

The son of

Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Alexander Hugh Gatehouse, he attended Wellington College, before being commissioned into the

Royal Dragoons The Royal Dragoons (1st Dragoons) was a heavy cavalry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed in 1661 as the Tangier Horse. It served for three centuries and was in action during the First and the Second World Wars. It was amalgama ...

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He saw service in Western Europe in 1944–1945 from the invasion of Normandy, when he was wounded, to the German surrender. During the war, he is said to have made an enemy tank surrender at gunpoint with his pistol. Returning to civilian life, Gatehouse attended

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 ...

; among his contemporaries were

Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...

and

Kwa Geok Choo Kwa Geok Choo (; 21 December 1920 – 2 October 2010) was a Singaporean lawyer. She was the wife of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and the mother of current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. She was also the co-founder and partner of law ...

. Gatehouse was called to the bar in 1950 by Lincoln's Inn and joined the chambers of John Thompson, QC, which had a general common law practice and one in personal injury. In 1955, he moved chambers to 1 Brick Court (now Brick Court Chambers), where he had a mixed practice, including appeals to the Privy Council from Commonwealth countries. He became 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 or ...

in 1969. Among his most important cases as counsel was ''British Railways Board v Herrington''

972 Year 972 ( CMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – Emperor John I Tzimiskes divides the Bulgarian territories, recent ...

AC 877, in which he acted for the

British Railways Board British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

. Gatehouse was appointed to the High Court in 1985 and received the customary knighthood. He was assigned to the Queen's Bench Division and tried cases in the Commercial Court.

References

* https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-16855 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gatehouse, Robert Knights Bachelor 2002 deaths Queen's Bench Division judges British Army personnel of World War II People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire 1924 births 1st The Royal Dragoons officers English King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Members of Lincoln's Inn