BACHELOR JUDGE DEAD

Taranaki Daily News, 28 April 1933, Page 7

BACHELOR JUDGE DEAD

MR. JUSTICE McCARDIE FOUND SHOT IN HIS ROOMS SHOTGUN LYING NEAR BODY DEPRESSED AFTER ILLNESS By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Rec. 7 p.m. London, April 27. Mr. Justice McCardie was found dead in his London house with a -bullet wound in the head. A gun was nearby. A servant heard a shot and rushed to the room and found Mr. Justice McCardie dead in a chair. He had been convalescing from two severe attacks of influenza and was still suffering from the after-effects. It was later established that Mr. Justice McCardie was shot with a sporting gun which was held between his knees. A piece of string was attached to the trigger and the other end held in the hand. Mr. Justice McCardie had occupied a suite in Queen Ann Mansions, St- James, for 25 years. A housemaid heard a shot at 4.30 in the afternoon and found him crumpled in a chair and bleeding from a wound in the head. Mr. Justice McCardie recently said:. “I am depressed after the effects of influenza,” but a member of the hotel staff said he seemed to be in his usual charming and happy mood at lunch time. The dead judge was a keen sportsman and kept several guns at his rooms. The body was removed to the Westminster mortuary and the inquest will be held on Friday. Mr. Justice McCardie was born at Edgbaston in 1869 and was unmarried. He was called to tire Bar in 1894 and became a Bencher of the Middle Temple in 1916. In the same year he was appointed a judge of the High Court and was knighted. He was well-known as the “Bachelor Judge” and had a keen wit. His recreations were shooting, fishing and golf. The tragic death of the famous “Bachelor Judge,” whose pronouncements were aways read by millions, of people, came as a great shock to the public. The newspapers devote columns to his passing and to his career. His body was found in a sitting posture before the fire, , dressed in trousers, waistcoat, dressing gown and carpet slippers, with no collar. No relevant document was found. No more fearless judge ever sat. on England’s judicial bench, and none was more open-minded, just or humane. .He never hesitated to declare that the time had arrived when a broader and more liberal view of some of the existing laws was necessary. Speaking at a banquet, he declared the fearlessness, honesty and independence on the part of our judges was the mainstay of English justice. There were often light moments in his court. He said that a little humour was necessary if an atmosphere of humanity and kindness were to be maintained.