SIR GORDON HEW ART

Southland Times, Issue 19518, 18 May 1922, Page 6

SIR GORDON HEW ART

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. A BRILLIANT RECORD. LONDON, March 9. Sir Gordon Hewart’s meteoric rise in his profession attracts much interest. It is doubtful whether more remarkable a record than his can be found in the history of the English Bar. Sir Gordon is only 52 years of age. Within 20 years after having been “called” he has risen through sheer capacity, and not through favouritism, to the distinction of Lord Chief Justice. He could have taken that position when Lord Reading resigned in 1921, but out of loyalty to the Government he declined that post, .and devoted his high political abilities to the support of Mr Lloyd George. For similar reasons he refused to accept the Mastership of the Rolls. The Prime Minister attached great importance to Sir Gordon’s debating powers. He was one of the few law officers who made a real mark in the House of Commons outside the value of their legal opinions. Some of them were pompous, some were lazy, some were mere advocates, or fought only on the fringe of the battle, apparently considering their Parliamentary work of second importance. But Sir Gordon Hewart acted otherwise. He was a “real live” politician, a decided Liberal, after Mr Lloyd George’s own heart. The Prime Minister had no better henchman on the Treasury bench. It is not surprising that Mr Lloyd George and others also, encouraged Sir Gordon to stick to politics,. for they considered that there was no position to which he might not attain. But nothing would move Sir Gordon from his preference for the law. As a speaker, whether in the Courts or in the House, be always showed good style, but he never attempted any oratorical effects. He, however, had a real gift of humour, and his remarkable powers of orderly thought, his penetrating mind, and his sense of proportion, enables him not only to grasp a principle but to drive home its application. He was always a good lawyer, and many are the instances where be advised litigious clients not to go into court. He discouraged litigation. .Among the trials that brought him kudos before he had taken silk was the great Jones and Hulton libel suit. Sir Gordon won, first before the jury; the verdict was next confirmed by the Court above, by the Court of Appeal, ano again by the House of Lords. The defendant possessed enormous wealth. He was often involved in law suits, and he was not a little chagrined that young Hewart had so heavily beaten him, though he had the support of the best pleaders at the Bar. The result was that Mr Hulton directed his lawyer to retain Mr Hewart for every case, present and prospective, that required legal advice. Sir Gordon’s elevation to the Lord Chief Justiceship was not a surprise, but it came suddenly. Lord Trevethin was appointed to that post last year. The position had been vacant a long time, through the departure of Lord Reading for India. By right of custom Sir Gordon Hewart, as Attorney-General, was entitled to, it; but Mr Lloyd George could not spare him. Mr Justice Lawrence, who has just retired, was a very old man, but he was induced to act as warming pan with the title of Lord Trevethin. Last December he offered to retire, but Mr Lloyd George was still unable to spare his right-hand debater in the Commons. More recently the air has been full of rumours about disputes in the Coalition, the imminence of a general election, and Mr Lloyd George’s retirement. The Prime Minister often does things in a hurry, and if he had suddenly retired there might, of course, have been little chance of Sir Gordon not securing the Chief Justiceship. Possibly it was in- order to be on the safe side that Sir Gordon suddenly decided to go to the bench. It was all so expeditiously done that a telegram was sent to Lord Trevethin accepting his offered resignation of December last, and the resignation was completed in the middle of a case which Lord Trevttliin was hearing in Court. For various reasons the incident occasioned some sur prise. Before many days are over the new Lord Chief will receive a peerage. Sir Gordon Hewart was bofn at Bury, in Lancashire, educated at the. Manchester Grammer school, and won an Oxford scholarship. He had a fine University record on the classical side, and it is said of him that he and his elder son, who was killed at Suvla Bay, madi it a point to read a few passages of Greek or Latin together every day. Before he was called to the Bar in 1902, Sir Gordon took up journalism. He joined the Manchester Guardian, and subsequently became editor of the Morning Leader. Like Lord Russell, or Kiilowen, Sir Edward Clarke, and Mr Justice Duke, he was for some time a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. His spare time was devoted to free-lance contributions to many newspapers- even to the writing of short paragraphs. There is no doubt that his journalistic training, coupled with his untiring industry, helped him in his profession. He worked very hard as a law student; and when he was called to the Bar in 1902 he abandoned all press work, and threw himself with characteristic zeal into the study of the law. He made a rapid record. In ten years he took silk; in 1913 he was elected for Leicester, and in 1916 was made Solicitor-General, and Attorney-Genefal in 1919. Some of his most useful work for the country was little known to outsiders.

I refer to his labours in connection with the Varsailles Treaty, and to other legal instruments, the outcome of the Great War. In fact, Sir Gordon was never much in the public eye, for he never courted popularity. He was a shy, reserved man, anxious to avoid public appearances, but his interest was always aroused by the presentation of some knotty point of English law. In private life and at the Temple dinners he was the soul of good company. He had a wonderful budget of stories and reminiscence.