C Celebrate the Lives

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.

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.

SIR WILLIAM ALAN MACPHERSON OF CLUNY TD, 6TH OF BLAIRGOWRIE 1 April 1926 – 14 Feburary 2021

Master Macpherson was called to the Bar in 1952 and took Silk in 1971. He was appointed as a Recorder in 1972 and as a Judge of the High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division in 1983 where he served until his retirement in 1997. He chaired perhaps one of the most important public inquiries to have taken place in the last twenty years, namely the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry which resulted in the publication of the Macpherson Report in 1999. He was a captain in the Scots guards before commanding the 21st Special Air Squadron Regiment of the Territorial Army and becoming an honorary colonel between 1983 and 1991. He remained a member of the Royal Company of Archers, the ceremonial guard for the Queen in Scotland, until 2006. He had also been president of the Highland Society of London and the London Scottish Rugby Football Club.

Master Macpherson was elected a Bencher of the Inn in 1978. Every two years he arranged a match against Blairgowrie Golf Club as part of the Inner Temple Golfing Society’s Scottish Tour. The last match took place in 2012. After the match, he would host a party at his Castle in Blairgowrie in the evening at which there was always much merriment.

Master Macpherson was the 27th Hereditary Chief of Clan Macpherson.

Sir William Macpherson of Cluny TD, painting by Bryan Organ, 2011

EBEN HAMILTON QC 12 June 1937 – 11 February 2021

After completing University at Trinity College, Cambridge, Master Hamilton was called to the Bar in 1962 and took Silk in 1981. He was admitted ad eundum to Lincoln’s Inn and ad hoc to the Hong Kong Bar (1978), Singapore Bar (1982), and Cayman Bar (2001). He was Head of Chambers at 1 New Square and was instrumental in its merger with 12 New Square to form New Square Chambers in 2000.

Master Hamilton was elected a Bencher of the Inn in 1985. He was a Barrister member of the Review Panel/Disciplinary Committee until 2010 and a regular attendee at the Inn’s events. He served as Deputy High Court Judge of the Chancery Dicision from 1990-2005.

He performed his national service with the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards from 1955-1957 and in the Territorial Army’s Fife and Forfar Yeomanry/Scottish Horse squadrom from 1958-1966.

ELDRED TABACHNIK QC 5 November 1943 – 29 November 2020

After reading Law at the University of Cape Town, Master Tabachnik qualified as an advocate at the South African Bar, where he practised briefly, often acting pro bono for defendants in criminal prosecutions. Having met his beloved Jenny, he came to London to marry her in 1966 , and the couple decided to stay. He pursued an LLM at UCL, moving seamlessly to lecturing there. In 1970, he was called to the Bar by The Inner Temple, and after pupillages, latterly with Lord Irvine of Lairg (Master Irvine). He took silk in 1982, where he had the distinction of being the ‘bottom of the list’. He was a founder of 11KBW in 1981 and Joint Head of Chambers from 1997. On his death, 11KBW published on its website: “He almost singlehandedly created Employment Law as an area of practice in its own right and was the doyen of the Employment Bar for many years. He was a superlative lawyer, a great man, and a good and kind person”. He served as a Recorder from 2000 until retiring in 2008. He was elected a Bencher of the Inn in 1988.

WALTER GARRISON RUNCIMAN, 3RD VISCOUNT RUNCIMAN OF DOXFORD, CBE FBA 10 November 1934 – 10 December 2020

Known informally as Garry Runciman, Master Runciman was a British historical sociologist. A senior research fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, Master Runciman wrote several publications in his field. He also sat on the Bank of England’s Securities and Investment Board and chaired the British Government’s Royal Commission on Criminal Justice (1991–1993). He was elected an Honorary Bencher of The Inner Temple in 1992.

HIS HONOUR JOHN WEEKS QC 11 May 1938 – April 2021

Master Weeks was called to the Bar in 1963 and took Silk in 1983. In 1991 he was appointed a circuit judge on the Western Circuit and as a Chancery Circuit judge in 1997 until his retirement in 2006. In 1989, his work Limitation of Actions was published.

He lived in the Isle of Wight with his family where he could frequently be seen walking with his dog.

He was elected a Judicial Governing Bencher in 1996.

MASTER LUZIUS WILDHABER 18 January 1937 – 22 July 2020

Master Wildhaber studied law at Basel and Yale universities. In 1977, he was appointed Professor at Basel University. From 1992 to 1994 he was Rector of the University. From 1975 to 1988 he sat as a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Principality of Liechtenstein and from 1989 to 1994 as a judge of the Administrative Tribunal of the Inter-American Development Bank. In 1991 he was elected judge of the European Court. In 1998 he was elected by his colleagues first President of the full-time Court set up under Protocol No 11 to the Convention and continued as President being twice re-elected until he reached the retirement age of 70 fixed by the Convention.

Master Wildhaber was elected an Honorary Bencher in 2002 and gave a lecture at the Inn in October 2003.

THE RT HON THE LORD JONATHAN HENRY SACKS 8 March 1948 – 7 November 2020

Master Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013. He was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer in 2009, taking his seat in the House of Lords with the title Baron Sacks of Aldgate. After stepping down as Chief Rabbi, he was appointed as Professor of Law, Ethics, and the Bible at King’s College London, a Professor of Judaic Thought at New York University and a Professor of Jewish Thought at Yeshiva University. He won the Templeton Prize in 2016 in recognition of his “exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.”

Rabbi Sacks authored over 35 books. He was a noted scholar whose publications and philosophical contributions have been monumental to modern understanding of Judaism and beyond.

He was awarded 18 honorary doctorates including a Doctor of Divinity and he was a frequent and sought-after contributor to radio, television and the press both in Britain and around the world. He was appointed an Honorary Bencher of the Inn in 2001.

DAVID YALE FBA HON QC 31 March 1928 – 26 June 2021

Master Yale was called to the Bar in 1951 and was appointed Honorary Queen’s Counsel in 2000. He was a Reader in English Legal History at the University of Cambridge from 1969 until 1993 and a Fellow at Christ’s College, Cambridge since 1950. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1980 and was President of the Selden Society from 1994–1997. In 1998, the Selden Society instituted the biennial David Yale Prize for outstanding contribution to the history of the law of England and Wales, awarded to a young scholar.

Master Yale was elected as an Academic Bencher of the Inn in 2009.