Richard Garth
Encyclopedia
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
(11 May 1820 – 23 March 1903) was Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Guildford
Guildford (UK Parliament constituency)
Guildford is a county constituency in Surrey which returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system....
from 1866 to 1868 and Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
from 1875 to 1886.
Garth was born Richard Lowndes at Morden
Morden
Morden is a district in the London Borough of Merton. It is located approximately South-southwest of central London between Merton Park , Mitcham , Sutton and Worcester Park .- Origin of name :...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
(now south-west London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
), the son of the Reverend Richard Lowndes (1790 – 30 January 1862) and his wife Mary Lowndes (née Douglas).
Rev. Lowndes was, through his mother, the grandson of Richard Garth (d. 1787), Lord of the Manor
Lord of the Manor
The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...
of Morden. On the death of his mother, Rev. Lowndes inherited the Manor and, in accordance with the requirements of his grandfather's will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
, he changed his and his family's surname to Garth by royal licence in 1837.
Garth was educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and attended Christ Church College
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
were he was captain of the university cricket team in 1840 and 1841. He also played cricket for Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
, Hampshire
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
and Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
between 1839 and 1844. He received his MA from Oxford in June 1845.
A student at Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
from 1842, he became a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
there on 19 November 1847. On 27 June 1847, he married his cousin Clara Lowndes, (1824–1903).
The Garths had seven children:
- Richard Garth, b. 1848
- George Douglas Garth, 1852–1900
- William Garth, b. 1854
- Charles Garth, b. 1870
- Mary Eliza Garth, d.1932
- Helen Frances Garth
- Evelyn Selina May Garth
When his father died in 1862, Garth inherited the manor and its estate at Morden Hall
Morden Hall Park
Morden Hall Park is a National Trust park located on the banks of the River Wandle in Morden, south London. It covers over 50ha of parkland with the River Wandle meandering through it spanned by numerous foot bridges. The estate contains Morden Hall itself, Morden Cottage, an old Snuff Mill, and...
. Garth sold the manor in about 1872. He was also instrumental in the early planning of parts of Raynes Park
Raynes Park
Raynes Park is a suburb within the London Borough of Merton south-west London, centred around Raynes Park station and situated between Wimbledon and New Malden. It is 8.2 miles south-west of Charing Cross. The area is effectively divided into two by the Waterloo - Southampton mainline railway...
, on land he owned in the neighbouring parish of Merton
Merton (historic parish)
Merton was an ancient parish in the Brixton hundred of Surrey, England. It was bounded by Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Morden to the south and Kingston upon Thames to the west. The 1871 Ordnance Survey map records its area as . The parish was centred around the 12th century parish...
.
Garth practised commercial law
Commercial law
Commercial law is the body of law that governs business and commercial transactions...
in London, often appearing at the Guildhall
Guildhall, London
The Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. It has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation...
. On 23 July 1866, Garth was made a Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
and, two days later, 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...
of Lincoln's Inn. At a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
on 17 December 1866, he became one of the two members of parliament for Guildford
Guildford (UK Parliament constituency)
Guildford is a county constituency in Surrey which returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system....
, Surrey, replacing Sir William Bovill
William Bovill
Sir William Bovill was an English lawyer, politician and judge. He served as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas between 1866 and his death in 1873.-Background:...
. His period as an MP ended at the 1868 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1868
The 1868 United Kingdom general election was the first after passage of the Reform Act 1867, which enfranchised many male householders, thus greatly increasing the number of men who could vote in elections in the United Kingdom...
when, as a consequence of the 1867 Reform Act
Reform Act 1867
The Representation of the People Act 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102 was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised the urban male working class in England and Wales....
, Guildford's second parliamentary seat was abolished.
On 2 March 1875, Garth was made Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
. He received a knighthood
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 13 May 1875. Garth's legal opinions often brought him into conflict with the Indian and Bengal administrations, particularly with the Viceroy, the Marquess of Ripon
George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon
George Frederick Samuel Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon KG, GCSI, CIE, PC , known as Viscount Goderich from 1833 to 1859 and as the Earl de Grey and Ripon from 1859 to 1871, was a British politician who served in every Liberal cabinet from 1861 until his death forty-eight years later.-Background...
, over the Bengal Tenancy Act and the Criminal Procedure Code Amendment Bill (the Ilbert Bill
Ilbert Bill
The Ilbert Bill was a bill introduced in 1883 for British India by Viceroy Ripon that proposed an amendment for existing laws in the country at the time to allow Indian judges and magistrates the jurisdiction to try British offenders in criminal cases at the District level, something that was...
), both of which Garth publicly opposed. In May 1883, Garth sentenced Surendranath Banerjea
Surendranath Banerjea
Sir Surendranath Banerjee was one of the earliest Indian political leaders during the British Raj. He founded the Indian National Association, one of the earliest Indian political organizations, and later became a senior leader of the Indian National Congress...
to two months' imprisonment for libel against another of the high court's judges. He remained in the post at Fort William
Fort William, India
Fort William is a fort built in Calcutta on the Eastern banks of the River Hooghly, the major distributary of the River Ganges, during the early years of the Bengal Presidency of British India. It was named after King William III of England...
, Calcutta
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
until 26 February 1886. Although he had opposed legislation which would have brought the legal rights of whites and Indians closer together, Garth was a supporter of the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
and, in 1888, wrote a pamphlet A Few Plain Truths about India in support of the organisation's aims stating, "for myself I have long been persuaded that many of the abuses complained of are real and serious; and that some of the proposed reforms would be not only of advantage to India, but would materially strengthen the hands of the Government."
On 21 February 1888, Garth was appointed a Privy Counsellor. He died on 23 March 1903 at 10 Cheniston Gardens, Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
.
See also
- Douglas GarthDouglas GarthDouglas Garth was a British philatelist who was one of the "Fathers of Philately" entered on the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1921. He was an expert on the stamps of India and British Guiana and a Solicitor in the firm of Pemberton & Garth...