Judicial biography is out of fashion: Lord Chancellors apart, the lives of the bewigged great and good are confined within the narrow boundaries of the Dictionary of National Biography. Judicial autobiography is too often driven more by the self-esteem of the authors than the intrinsic interest of the subject. Anthony Lentin convincingly establishes his subject’s claim to resurrection.
Born John Andrew Hamilton and of Mancunian middle-class origins, the future Viscount profited from an education at two great forcing houses of talent, Manchester Grammar School and Balliol. Called to the Bar by the Inner Temple, he was no instant success either in London or on the Northern Circuit. For many years he earned a living by his pen, not his tongue. He became one of the DNB’s most prolific contributors while writing a brief life of Daniel O’Connell and editing a leading textbook on Marine Law. But perseverance as well as forensic skill is a necessary precondition of success at the Bar and once his pupilmaster, Bigham, was promoted to the Bench, he took over his mantle as head of chambers and his successful commercial practice.
His report into an allegation that the local education authority in Swansea had discriminated against a Church of England school, brought him to national prominence, and in 1897 he was appointed to the High Court Bench.
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