Celebrate the Life
The Inner Temple Yearbook 2021–2022
CELEBRATE THE LIVES DAVID GRAHAM WIDDICOMBE QC 7 January 1924 – 27 October 2019 Master Widdicombe was called to the Bar by The Inner Temple in 1950. Born in St Albans, David served as a Lieutenant tank commander in the Second World War. After demobilisation David read Law at Queen’s College, Cambridge, where he co-founded Varsity newspaper in 1947, becoming its second editor. At Cambridge David mentored Harry Lee, better known as Lee Kuan Yew, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore, who supported David and acted as his assistant and driver during David’s unsuccessful campaign for Labour candidate at the 1950 election in Totnes, Devon. He specialised in Government administration and practised in Britain as well as in Hong Kong and the Caribbean, which were still subject to British law. He took Silk in 1965 and later became a Recorder and subsequently a Deputy High Court Judge. He edited the standard reference work on council rates, and chaired the inquiry into the conduct of local authority business (the Widdicombe Report, 1986) after the outcry over Dame Shirley Porters’ conduct of affairs in the City of Westminster. He was appointed a Governing Bencher of the Inn in 1973 and served as a Trustee from 1975–1986.
C THE RT HON SIR ROY BELDAM 29 March 1925 – 16 October 2020 Master Beldam was called to the Bar in 1950 and took silk in 1969. He was appointed as a Recorder in 1972 and as a judge of the High Court in 1981. In 1989, he was elevated to the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, where he served until his retirement in 2000. He was made a member of the Privy Council in 1989. He also served as Legal Assessor to the General Medical Council from 1976–81 and as Chairman of the Law Commission from 1985–1989. Master Beldam was a long-standing and dedicated member of the Marshall Hall Trust, which gives financial assistance to members of The Inner Temple who are in need. His daughter, Master Alexandra Beldam, was elected as a Bencher in 2019. A keen sailor and an enthusiast of naval history, he served as a Sub-Lieutenant in the Fleet Air Arm from 1943–1946. He was the son of the first-class-cricketer and pioneering action photographer, George Beldam, and held a life-long interest in the sport as well as being an avid Rugby Union fan.
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