Alan King-Hamilton
Encyclopedia
Myer Alan Barry King-Hamilton QC (9 December 1904 – 23 March 2010) was a British
barrister
and judge
who was best known for hearing numerous high-profile cases at the Old Bailey
during the 1960s and 1970s. These included the trial of Janie Jones
in 1974 and the 1977 blasphemous libel trial against Gay News
and its editor, Denis Lemon, for publishing "The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name", a controversial poem by James Kirkup
.
, London on 9 December 1904, the only son of solicitor
Alfred King-Hamilton. He attended York House
prep school
and briefly Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School
, but completed his schooling at Bishop's Stortford College
. He read law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge
, receiving a third-class BA degree in 1927. He later commented that "it is not essential or even important to get a First, or even a Second, to succeed at the Bar." Hamilton took his MA
in 1929, the same year in which he was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple
.
In 1935, he married Rosalind Irene Ellis (1906–1991), with whom he had two daughters. During his first few years at the Bar, King-Hamilton specialised in road traffic law before branching out into other areas.
with the Ministry of Information and by 1945 had achieved the rank of squadron leader
in Royal Air Force Intelligence
. Upon demobilization he returned to his legal career.
in 1954, King-Hamilton was appointed Recorder of Hereford
from 1955 to 1965, of Gloucester
from 1956 to 1961 and of Wolverhampton
until 1964. In that year he was appointed an additional judge of the Central Criminal Court
, which lead to his most notable reported cases.
ran a fraudulent insurance company and had been exposed on television by David Frost
. His 1968 trial for fraud
, under King-Hamilton, led to his conviction and imprisonment for eight years. Despite this, King-Hamilton described Savundra as "What a man. How could one not admire his spirit?" in his memoirs, and would have had him as an imaginary dinner party guest, along with Cleopatra, Dame Edith Evans and others.
, a pop singer and madame, on charges of procuring women to become prostitutes, blackmail
and perverting the course of justice
. When convicted by the jury on the first and third charges, King-Hamilton sentenced Jones to seven years imprisonment, describing her as "the most evil woman he had ever met". Jones's own recollection was that he had said "of all the women I've ever tried, you are the most evil. I thought one woman was really evil, but you leave that woman in the shade."
, then leader of the Young Liberals
, was charged with the robbery
of £490 from a branch of Barclays Bank in Putney
. He was acquitted on the ground of mistaken identity and later accused King-Hamilton of bias against him.
, was published in the 3 June 1976 issue of Gay News
. The poem, written from the viewpoint of a Roman centurion
, graphically describes him having sex with Jesus after his crucifixion
, and also claims that Jesus had had sex with numerous disciples, guards, and even Pontius Pilate
.
Moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse
initiated a private prosecution
following the refusal of the Director of Public Prosecutions
to take action. The trial, under the name Whitehouse v Lemon was heard by King-Hamilton at the Old Bailey
on 4 July 1977, with John Mortimer
QC and Geoffrey Robertson
representing Denis Lemon and John Smyth representing Whitehouse. On Monday 11 July, the jury found both defendants guilty. Gay News Ltd was fined £1,000 and Lemon fined £500 and sentenced to nine months imprisonment suspended for two years. King-Hamilton said that "it had been touch and go whether he would send Lemon to jail immediately. He would later say "It was a difficult summing up to prepare but I felt as if I had an influence over my left shoulder, I felt that I was being guided to put it helpfully to the jury... the previous prosecution was back in the early 1920s and did not give me much help."
After retiring in 1979, King-Hamilton acted as an arbitrator in the Channel 4
television series Case on Camera. He died on March 23, 2010 at the age of 105, survived by both his daughters.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
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...
and judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
who was best known for hearing numerous high-profile cases at the Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
during the 1960s and 1970s. These included the trial of Janie Jones
Janie Jones
Marion Mitchell , better known by her stage name, Janie Jones, was an English singer. She became renowned for being a madame in London during the 1970s, and was jailed for her involvement in the BBC Radio One 'sex for airplay' payola scandal...
in 1974 and the 1977 blasphemous libel trial against Gay News
Gay News
Gay News was a pioneering fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between former members of the Gay Liberation Front and members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality...
and its editor, Denis Lemon, for publishing "The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name", a controversial poem by James Kirkup
James Kirkup
James Falconer Kirkup, FRSL was a prolific English poet, translator and travel writer. He was brought up in South Shields, and educated at South Shields Secondary School and Durham University. He wrote over 30 books, including autobiographies, novels and plays...
.
Early life and career
Hamilton was born in West HampsteadWest Hampstead
West Hampstead is an area in northwest London, England, situated between Childs Hill to the north, Frognal and Hampstead to the north-east, Swiss Cottage to the east, and South Hampstead to the south. Until the late 19th century, the locale was a small village called West End...
, London on 9 December 1904, the only son of solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
Alfred King-Hamilton. He attended York House
York House School (Redheath)
York House School is an independent preparatory school for boys aged from 4 to 13 years of age. The school is located in Croxley Green, Hertfordshire in an eighteenth-century mansion. The school motto is "Aut Viam Inveniam Aut Faciam", which is Latin for "Either I shall find a way or I shall make...
prep school
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
and briefly Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School
Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School
The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School is a British independent school for boys aged 4–19. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and of the Haileybury Group....
, but completed his schooling at Bishop's Stortford College
Bishop's Stortford College
Bishop's Stortford College is a co-educational independent school for day and boarding pupils from the ages of four to eighteen, with a campus located on the edge of Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England...
. He read law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the fifth-oldest college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich.- Foundation :...
, receiving a third-class BA degree in 1927. He later commented that "it is not essential or even important to get a First, or even a Second, to succeed at the Bar." Hamilton took his MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in 1929, the same year in which he was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
.
In 1935, he married Rosalind Irene Ellis (1906–1991), with whom he had two daughters. During his first few years at the Bar, King-Hamilton specialised in road traffic law before branching out into other areas.
Military service
In 1939 King-Hamilton became a censorCensorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
with the Ministry of Information and by 1945 had achieved the rank of squadron leader
Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. In these...
in Royal Air Force Intelligence
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. Upon demobilization he returned to his legal career.
Judicial career
After being appointed QCQueen'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...
in 1954, King-Hamilton was appointed Recorder of Hereford
Recorder (judge)
A Recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales. It now refers to two quite different appointments. The ancient Recorderships of England and Wales now form part of a system of Honorary Recorderships which are filled by the most senior full-time circuit judges...
from 1955 to 1965, of Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
from 1956 to 1961 and of Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
until 1964. In that year he was appointed an additional judge of the Central Criminal Court
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
, which lead to his most notable reported cases.
Emil Savundra trial
Emil SavundraEmil Savundra
Emil Savundra, born Michael Marion Emil Anacletus Pierre Savundranayagam was an indigenous Tamil businessman from Ceylon who later took British citizenship. He is known for having perpetrated financial frauds in several countries, culminating in the scandal of the Fire, Auto and Marine Insurance...
ran a fraudulent insurance company and had been exposed on television by David Frost
David Frost
Sir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
. His 1968 trial for fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, under King-Hamilton, led to his conviction and imprisonment for eight years. Despite this, King-Hamilton described Savundra as "What a man. How could one not admire his spirit?" in his memoirs, and would have had him as an imaginary dinner party guest, along with Cleopatra, Dame Edith Evans and others.
Janie Jones trial
King-Hamilton also presided over the 1973 trial of Janie JonesJanie Jones
Marion Mitchell , better known by her stage name, Janie Jones, was an English singer. She became renowned for being a madame in London during the 1970s, and was jailed for her involvement in the BBC Radio One 'sex for airplay' payola scandal...
, a pop singer and madame, on charges of procuring women to become prostitutes, blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
and perverting the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice, in English, Canadian , and Irish law, is a criminal offence in which someone prevents justice from being served on himself or on another party...
. When convicted by the jury on the first and third charges, King-Hamilton sentenced Jones to seven years imprisonment, describing her as "the most evil woman he had ever met". Jones's own recollection was that he had said "of all the women I've ever tried, you are the most evil. I thought one woman was really evil, but you leave that woman in the shade."
Peter Hain trial
In 1976 Peter HainPeter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for the Welsh constituency of Neath since 1991, and has served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and both Secretary of State for...
, then leader of the Young Liberals
National League of Young Liberals
The National League of Young Liberals , often just called the Young Liberals, was the youth wing of the British Liberal Party. It was founded in 1903 and by 1906 it had over three hundred branches. In 1934 it called for David Lloyd George to lead a Liberal New Deal revival based on the Yellow Book...
, was charged with the robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
of £490 from a branch of Barclays Bank in Putney
Putney
Putney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
. He was acquitted on the ground of mistaken identity and later accused King-Hamilton of bias against him.
Gay News trial
A poem, The Love that Dares to Speak its NameThe Love that Dares to Speak its Name
The Love that Dares to Speak its Name is a controversial poem by James Kirkup.It is written from the viewpoint of a Roman centurion who is graphically described having sex with Jesus after his crucifixion, and also claims that Jesus had had sex with numerous disciples, guards, and even Pontius...
, was published in the 3 June 1976 issue of Gay News
Gay News
Gay News was a pioneering fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between former members of the Gay Liberation Front and members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality...
. The poem, written from the viewpoint of a Roman centurion
Centurion
A centurion was a professional officer of the Roman army .Centurion may also refer to:-Military:* Centurion tank, British battle tank* HMS Centurion, name of several ships and a shore base of the British Royal Navy...
, graphically describes him having sex with Jesus after his crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
, and also claims that Jesus had had sex with numerous disciples, guards, and even Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilatus , known in the English-speaking world as Pontius Pilate , was the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, from AD 26–36. He is best known as the judge at Jesus' trial and the man who authorized the crucifixion of Jesus...
.
Moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse, CBE was a British campaigner against the permissive society particularly as the media portrayed and reflected it...
initiated a private prosecution
Private prosecution
A private prosecution is a criminal proceeding initiated by an individual or private organisation instead of by a public prosecutor who represents the state...
following the refusal of the Director of Public Prosecutions
Director of Public Prosecutions
The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world...
to take action. The trial, under the name Whitehouse v Lemon was heard by King-Hamilton at the Old Bailey
Central Criminal Court
Central Criminal Court may refer to:*Central Criminal Court, commonly known as the Old Bailey, London, England*Central Criminal Court, name for the High Court when it is hearing a criminal case, in Dublin or elsewhere, Republic of Ireland...
on 4 July 1977, with John Mortimer
John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
QC and Geoffrey Robertson
Geoffrey Robertson
Geoffrey Ronald Robertson QC is an Australian-born human rights lawyer, academic, author and broadcaster. He holds dual Australian and British citizenship....
representing Denis Lemon and John Smyth representing Whitehouse. On Monday 11 July, the jury found both defendants guilty. Gay News Ltd was fined £1,000 and Lemon fined £500 and sentenced to nine months imprisonment suspended for two years. King-Hamilton said that "it had been touch and go whether he would send Lemon to jail immediately. He would later say "It was a difficult summing up to prepare but I felt as if I had an influence over my left shoulder, I felt that I was being guided to put it helpfully to the jury... the previous prosecution was back in the early 1920s and did not give me much help."
After retiring in 1979, King-Hamilton acted as an arbitrator in the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
television series Case on Camera. He died on March 23, 2010 at the age of 105, survived by both his daughters.