The Lord Asquith of Bishopstone | |
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Lord of Appeal in Ordinary | |
In office 23 April 1951 – 24 August 1954 | |
Preceded by | The Lord MacDermott |
Succeeded by | The Lord Somervell of Harrow |
Lord Justice of Appeal | |
In office 13 February 1946 – 23 April 1951 | |
Preceded by | None |
Succeeded by | Sir John Morris |
Justice of the High Court | |
In office 28 March 1938 – 13 February 1946 | |
Preceded by | Sir Samuel Porter |
Succeeded by | Sir Frederic Sellers |
Personal details | |
Born | London, England | 25 February 1890
Died | 24 August 1954 London, England | (aged 64)
Spouse |
Anne Stephanie Pollock
(m. 1918) |
Children | 4 |
Parent(s) | H. H. Asquith Helen Kelsall Melland |
Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
Cyril Asquith, Baron Asquith of Bishopstone, PC (5 February 1890 – 24 August 1954) was an English barrister and judge who served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1951 until his death three years later.
The youngest child of British prime minister H. H. Asquith by his first wife, Cyril Asquith followed the steps of his father and eldest brother into a distinguished academic career at Balliol College, Oxford, before serving in the British Army during the First World War. After the war he practised, with modest success, at the common law bar until 1938, when he was appointed to the High Court. He was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 1946 and to the House of Lords in 1951. The same year he was offered the Lord Chancellorship by Winston Churchill, but declined the post.
Asquith was widely regarded as possessing one of the finest minds on the bench, although his rapid rise, after an unremarkable career at the bar, was the cause for some adverse comment. According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, his career was an "undistinguished—although extraordinarily lucky" one.[1]