Bristol Law Society Presidents 1914 – 1930
Former BLS President and Legal Historian, Jack Lyes, has been researching the careers of Past Presidents. Here he looks at the potted careers of those Presidents from World War One and after.
1914 John Noble Coleman Pope. Member Abbot, Pope & Abbot. Nominated unopposed Conservative candidate in municipal election (1900) and unsuccessful Conservative candidate in parliamentary election (1910). Notice of death in WDP 16 April 1924.
1915 William Sefton Clarke. Member Clarke & Sons (later Osborne Clarke). Registrar of the Consistory Court. Succeeded his uncle William Hurle Clarke as Hon. Sec.of the Bristol Diocesan Clergy Society. Photograph at BA ref. 44687/BLS/IM/Ph/2/25. Served as a major in the Gloucestershire regiment during the Great War.
1916 Walter James Sloan. Member Burges & Sloan. Chairman Blue Maids Orphanage. Author (under the pseudonym ‘Karslake Dene’) of Clubs, Athletic & Recreational: Hints on their Formation & Management. See Resist the Usual. Burges Salmon: A History by Neil Porter (2010). Obituary WDP 6 August 1923. Funeral WDP 10 August 1923.
1917 Charles Frederick Loriston Clarke. Member Tanner & Clarke (later Bush & Clarke). Chairman of the commission set up by Bishop Nickson to consider the problem of city churches (see WDP 16 March 1926). Served as a lieutenant in the RNVR during the Great War. Winner of the Clements Inn, Daniel Reardon & John Mackrell prizes in his finals examination in June 1893. Photograph in Law Notes September 1893 and also at BA ref. 44687/BLS/IM/Ph/2/26. Obituary in WDP 25 November 1938.
1918 John Chaffey Glyde. Sole practitioner (later Glyde,Kerslake & Co). Clerk to Portishead Urban District Council. Chairman of Weston-super-Mare Conservative Association and the Bristol Constitutional Club. Caricature in BTM. Photograph at BA ref. 4468/BLS/IM/Ph/2/27.Obituary Bristol Evening Post 10 April 1935.
1919 Horace Lavington Evans. Sole practitioner. Deacon of Highbuty [Congregational] Chapel. Associated with Broad Plain Mission and the Peter Herve Benevolent Institution. For funeral see WDP 10 September 1934.
1920 George William Webber. Sole practitioner (later Webber Bull & Naish). Churchwarden at St. Anselm’s Clifton. Pioneer motorist, keen musician (flautist) and crack shot – revolver coach in Great War. Obituary in WDP 11 September 1950.
1921 Frederick Evelyn Metcalfe. Sole practitioner (later F.E. Metcalfe & Co). Acted for many insurance companies (see Reminiscences of a Financial Venturer by J.Arnold Lambert (1955)). Conservative Councillor and Alderman. Sportsman (played rugby for Clifton). Caricature in BTM 12 January 1927. Special Constable (Sergeant) during Great War. Died putting out an incendiary bomb in Rudgeway churchyard during WW2 (for inquest see WDP 7 April 1941). Obituary in WDP 1 and 8 April 1941.
1922 John Hampden Inskip. Partner with his father – James Inskip & Son. Served in RFC (later RAF) in the Great War. Councillor and Alderman - leader of Citizen party on Council. Lord Mayor in 1931, KBE in 1937 and awarded freedom of city in 1954. One of his brothers was Lord Chief Justice and another the suffragan bishop of Barking. Involved with many local charities; director of Bristol United Press. See NB page 38 and for obituary see The Times 9 April 1960.
1923 William Stanley Alston Brown. Partner W.H. Brown & Son. Captain in North Staffordshire Regiment in Great War. Liberal councillor Bedminster East (elected 1910). Election agent for successful National Libera l candidate in Bristol South constituency in 1922.
1924 Frederick John Press. In partnership with his brother Edward (who later committed suicide) as Press & Press (later Clarke sons & Press). President Grateful Society. Churchwarden St. Johns (City). Obituary in WDP 27 September 1944.
1925 Arthur William Taylor. Partner Evans & Taylor (with Percy Ralph Evans). Served in the Volunteers during the Great War. Principally interested in real property law. Served on a committee representing local law societies. Caricature in BTM 28 October 1925.
1926 Matthew Henry Laxton. Admitted in May 1913; in partnership with his father Warren G. Laxton (who died in July 1914). A Territorial who mobilised as a Lieutenant in the 6th Gloucesters in August 1914. Promoted to Captain and served in France. After demobilisation he became a partner in Meade-King & Co. Played rugby for Clifton.
1927 Edward John George Higham. Born in Australia. Member Osborne, Ward, Vassall & Co. Often prosecuted for Great Western Railway and Bristol Board of Guardians. Played rugby for Clifton. Clerk of the Society of Merchant Venturers (1938-1946).
1928 Thomas Muir Sowerby. Company secretary (later director) Imperial Tobacco Company. Vice-president Flax Bourton Cricket Club.
1929 William Henry Wise. Legal advisor to Town Clerk and later Clerk to the Magistrates. Volunteer and then a Territorial, a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Field Artillery. He served overseas in the Great War. Awarded the Officers’ Volunteer Decoration and Territorial Decoration..
1930 George Cyril Meade-King. Hon secretary Bristol Law Society. Member of Council of Clifton College and Clifton High School. Hon. Treasurer Bristol Record Society. Senior warden of St. Mary Redcliffe and President of Canynge Society.