Augustus Andrewes Uthwatt, Baron Uthwatt PC

Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...

, QC (25 April 1879 – 24 April 1949) was an Australian-born British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 judge.

Background

Born in Ballarat, Victoria

Ballarat, Victoria

Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately west-north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth...

, he was the son of Thomas Andrewes Uthwatt and his wife Annie Hazlizz. He was educated at Ballarat and Clarendon College

Ballarat and Clarendon College

Ballarat Clarendon College is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding school, located in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.Formerly affiliated with the Presbyterian Church of Australia, it is now a school of the Uniting Church and a member of the Ballarat Associated Schools.The school...

 and then at Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Civil Law

Bachelor of Civil Law

Bachelor of Civil Law is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. Historically, it originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but many universities now offer the BCL as an undergraduate degree...

, receiving the Vinerian Scholarship

Vinerian Scholarship

The Vinerian Scholarship is a scholarship given to the University of Oxford student that "gives the best performance in the examination for the Degree of Bachelor of Civil Law." Currently, £2,400 is given to the winner of the scholarship, with an additional £950 awarded to a proxime accessit...

. After his admission to Gray's Inn

Gray's Inn

The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

 in 1901, he was called to the bar three years later and became a bencher

Bencher

A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher can be elected while still a barrister , in recognition of the contribution that the barrister has made to the life of the Inn or to the law...

 in 1927.

Career

Uthwatt served as legal adviser to the Ministry of Food from 1915 until 1918 and became a member of the Council of Legal Education in 1929. He was junior counsel to HM Treasury

HM Treasury

HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy...

, the Board of Trade

Board of Trade

The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...

 and the Attorney General for England and Wales

Attorney General for England and Wales

Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...

 in 1934. Uthwatt was nominated a Judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice in 1941 and subsequently created a Knight Bachelor

Knight Bachelor

The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...

. On 9 January 1946, he was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary

Lord of Appeal in Ordinary

Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the House of Lords of the United Kingdom in order to exercise its judicial functions, which included acting as the highest court of appeal for most domestic matters...

 and received thereby additionally a life peerage with the title Baron Uthwatt, of Lathbury, in the County of Buckingham. Following his appointment, he was sworn of the Privy Council

Privy council

A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...

 in February of the same year.

Family

In 1927, he married Mary Baxter Bonhote. Their marriage was chidless. Uthwatt died, aged 70, on a heart attack at his home in Sandwich, Kent

Sandwich, Kent

Sandwich is a historic town and civil parish on the River Stour in the Non-metropolitan district of Dover, within the ceremonial county of Kent, south-east England. It has a population of 6,800....

.

External links