A FAMOUS JUDGE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 59, 5 March 1912, Page 3

A FAMOUS JUDGE.

On the last day of November tin death" was'announced of Sir Wiliian Grantham,' one of the best known o. British" Judges, whp during the las' few, months-has been one of tiie moss ,* vM J A i \ > . discussed , occupants of the Bench bj reason of his incursion into the politi cal domain.. He became ill only i ’few days before his death, immediately; after the conclusion of the cas', in which Sir J. B. Robinson, tin South African millionaire, was award ad £llOO damages against the autho; and,, publisher of a book on lumber ley f ; i Pn'euinpnia supervened, and tin end was hot long in coming. A lega correspondent .writes to the Daih Mail as follows about the late Judge Sir William Grantham had been ; Judge for seven years when I firs met him in 1893, and during the las eighteen years of his life he changer very little. The incisive, raspim voice remained to the end, the kee: eyes, the shaven, ruddy face whici put one in mind rather of a busy, kindly, somewhat irascible physician tiian of a lawyer. But he was a von, sound lawyer, notwithstanding. Hi; definite opinions and blunt space.made him many enemies, so that onlost sight of the fact, that his deck ions were •as sound as any on tin Bench, Indeed, during the last 11 months no King’s Bench Judge war “upset” less often on appeal. The Judge celebrated his seventy sixth birthday last October, The so. of the late Mr George Grantham, ; well known landowner, he became ; barrister at twenty-eight, and entcrec Parliament as member for Hast Surrey in 1874, subsequently sitting fo; Croydon. He was appointed to th< Bench in 188 G. It is certain that he never willingly suffered political Ida; to colour his judgment, but his obiter dicta were sometimes unguarded anc gave his enemies a handle. In July of 1906 matters came to i head, when Mr Mac Neill proposed h the House of Commons that there should be an investigation “of tin complaints that have been made o the partisan and political character of the conduct during the trial pi the Yarmouth election petition of M; Justice Grantham.” The motion wa: withdrawn, hut not before many hare ■things had boon said about the Judge by political opponents. Pickwickian Hostility.

His friends knew well that he tool those attacks very much to heart, no were surprised when five years late; (he burst forth into a reply. He chosi an unfortunate occasion, his charg; to the grind jury at Liverpool, am Ids defence was made in an nnfor ■innate manner, involving as it did some statements about the health o. the brother Judge who had sat wit! him at Yarmouth. But the attempt to use this latest ebullition on tlu part of a stronc and vehement jv>r eonalityi as a fresh weapon of attack in the House was doomed to failure. The Prime Minister quicth squashed it. He exasperated his op ponents, but even with them lie war never unpopular. The same may he said of his nol, infrequent brushes with counsel at the Bar. There was the historic storm roused by his statement that 20 per coat of people accused of crime arc .accquitted when they ought not to lie “by counsel endeavouring to attract the attention of the jury from the strong points made against them at the trial, and hereby raising what wo speak of in a technical sense as false issues.” Mr (n*w Lord) Robson, the counsel

w ho felt himself attacked, obtained an assurance from the J edge that no such reflection on his personal honour was intended. But Sir Robert .Findlay, then Attorney-General, used the opportunity -of a banquet at the iMjansion House to conic down upon the Judge with an indignant repudiation. Sir William felt tho vehement nature of tho answer. But that was his character. He made vigorous statements, and then w!as surprised at the hornet’s nest which he aroused. The Back Case. It was Mr Justice Grantham, it will be remembered, who put back Mr Beck for sentence, and shortly afterwards tho discovery was made of Mr Beck’s double—tho guilty man. At the subsequent proceedings, L at which Mr Beck’s innocence was established, Mr Justice Grantham was one of the lirst to shake his hand. v Sir William, much as he resented attacks, was always fond of teliing a good story .against himself. He was once travelling in a non-smoking compartment when a man, entered and lit a cigar. Despite. Sir William’s polite expostulation the ,man continued t<y smoke, until at , last the indignant Judge Handed -the mam his card and said ho would speak to the guard. The man put the card in his pocket and continued to, smoke; ; He alighted at tho next .station and was followed by Sir William, who asked Hie guard to take the man’s name and address. Presently the .guard, returned and whispered to tho judge; “If I were )’ou, sir, I shouldn’t press tho charge. Here it is, sir; you see, ho is Sir William Grantham.” ,

Having passed through the Stone Age,and tho Bronze Age,” he once remarked during the hearing of a libel action, “we are now in what might be called the Age of Brass. The Courts have very little to do now hut try

nises arising out of people being 'cheeky’ or ‘brassy’ or ‘telling lies.’ ”, During the, hearing of another case he said that under Socialism there would ho no ownership of property. Everybody would be seizing the first hit they could get hold of, and then somebody else would icbme along and shoot them or fight (them for it. A Tory Squire. Before all else, Sir 1 William was a muntry gentleman of the old-fashioned Cory type. As good a judge of a torse as any man in Sussex, he rode is straight ns lie spoke. He believed hi the divine right of squire; that • t was best for all concerned that the andowner should exercise a benevolent lespotism 'over the surrounding neigh,hourhbod. 11,11 ,' A’ 'I ' ,

1 His 1904 with the local district council over some cottages which he had built at Barcombe is familiar to most people, who remember his being summoned to the police Court; but not so many knew his kindness and goodness to his poorer neighbours! They at least recog-

nised under the brusque and somewhat dictatorial exterior disloyal and lovable nature of the map..,. Indiscreet often in his •.utterance?, he was a wiser man and a wiser Judge than it was the fashion of late years to believe. A great personality has passed away from the English Bench—uie of those definite <and positive figures which flourish in England.