William Searle Holdsworth
Encyclopedia
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit is a British dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...
, KC, DCL
Doctor of Civil Law
Doctor of Civil Law is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws degrees....
, LL.D
Legum Doctor
Legum Doctor is a doctorate-level academic degree in law, or an honorary doctorate, depending on the jurisdiction. The double L in the abbreviation refers to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both Canon Law and Civil Law, the double L indicating the plural, Doctor of both...
, FBA
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
, (7 May 1871 – 2 January 1944) was Vinerian Professor of English Law
Vinerian Professor of English Law
The Vinerian Professorship of English Law, formerly Vinerian Professorship of Common Law, was established by Charles Viner who by his will, dated 29 December 1755, left about £12,000 to the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford, to establish a Professorship of the Common Law...
at Oxford University and a legal historian, amongst whose works is the 17 volume History of English Law.
Early life
Sir William Searle Holdsworth was born in May 1871, the son of a well-known London solicitor, Charles Joseph Holdsworth and his wife Ellen Caroline (née Searle). He was educated at Dulwich CollegeDulwich College
Dulwich College is an independent school for boys in Dulwich, southeast London, England. The college was founded in 1619 by Edward Alleyn, a successful Elizabethan actor, with the original purpose of educating 12 poor scholars as the foundation of "God's Gift". It currently has about 1,600 boys,...
and in 1890 went on to win a History Exhibition from Dulwich College to New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
. He took first-class honours both in History and in Law, and second class honours in the BCL (Bachelor of Civil Law, a graduate-law degree.).
Career
William Holdsworth became Professor of Constitutional Law at University College, London (1903 to 1908). In 1922 he became the Vinerian Professor of English LawVinerian Professor of English Law
The Vinerian Professorship of English Law, formerly Vinerian Professorship of Common Law, was established by Charles Viner who by his will, dated 29 December 1755, left about £12,000 to the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford, to establish a Professorship of the Common Law...
at Oxford.
History of English Law and other works
- History of English Law (17 volumes, published between 1903 and 1966). This was Holdsworth's greatest literary academic achievement. The work begins with Anglo-Saxon times, and it is an account of legal procedure and court organization down to the Judicature Acts of 1875 and of the important phases of substantive law through the 18th cent. Though indubitably impressive in its scope, Holdsworth's history is now recognized as not having been written to full modern scholarly standards, and is consequently treated with some caution by currently legal historians.
- The Historians of Anglo-American Law (1928, repr. 1966); and
- Charles Dickens as a Legal Historian (1928, repr. 1972), the book version of Holdsworth's Storrs Lectures at Yale Law School, argued that historians should pay closer attention to the novels of Charles Dickens as source material about the workings of English law and legal institutions; it contains a thoughtful and sensitive analysis of Dickens's novel Bleak House as an illuminating examination of the Chancery system.
- Some Makers of English Law (Cambridge University Press, 1938), reprinting the Tagore Lectures delivered in 1937-1938 at Calcutta University, offering an overview of the history of English law through biographical studies of key figures in that history.
Knighted
William Holdsworth was knighted in 1929 and was appointed as a member of the Order of MeritOrder of Merit
The Order of Merit is a British dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...
in 1943. He died in 1944.
The Holdsworth Club
The Holdsworth Club is the University of BirminghamUniversity of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
Law School’s student law society. The Holdsworth Club was founded in 1927 and named after Sir William Holdsworth, by Professor C.E. Smalley-Baker who served as the first Dean of the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
’s Faculty of Law between 1928 and 1949. Sir William Holdsworth was Smalley-Baker's mentor and had been an External Examiner at the University for several years.
After giving his name to the Law Faculty's Student Club (the names of Bacon, Coke and Blackstone having been considered and rejected) Sir William Holdsworth became its active Patron. In this role he attended and spoke at the Club's annual dinner, and he gave an annual presidential address. The establishment of the presidency of the Holdsworth Club as an annual office, involving the sole obligations of attending a dinner and giving a lecture, led to the Faculty gaining a distinguished line of visiting speakers, (which by 1948 already included two Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
s and two Masters of the Rolls
Master of the Rolls
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the second most senior judge in England and Wales, after the Lord Chief Justice. The Master of the Rolls is the presiding officer of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal...
).
Sir William Holdsworth remained Patron of the Club until his death in 1944 (after which there have been two more Patrons: Dean Smalley-Baker 1949-72; and Professor O Hood-Phillips 1974-86). The list of distinguished Presidents includes Lord Chancellors, such as Hailsham
Viscount Hailsham
Viscount Hailsham, of Hailsham in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1929 for the lawyer and Conservative politician Douglas Hogg, 1st Baron Hailsham, who twice served as Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom...
, father
Viscount Hailsham
Viscount Hailsham, of Hailsham in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1929 for the lawyer and Conservative politician Douglas Hogg, 1st Baron Hailsham, who twice served as Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom...
and son
Viscount Hailsham
Viscount Hailsham, of Hailsham in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1929 for the lawyer and Conservative politician Douglas Hogg, 1st Baron Hailsham, who twice served as Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom...
, Master of the Rolls
Master of the Rolls
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the second most senior judge in England and Wales, after the Lord Chief Justice. The Master of the Rolls is the presiding officer of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal...
, Denning (three times); Donaldson
John Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Lymington
John Francis Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Lymington PC, QC was a senior British judge who served as Master of the Rolls for 10 years, from 1982 to 1992.- Early and private life :...
; Bingham
Thomas Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill
Thomas Henry Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, KG PC QC FBA , was a British judge and jurist. He served in the highest judicial offices of the United Kingdom as Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice and as Senior Law Lord before his retirement, when he focused his work as a teacher and lecturer...
; Green, the majority of the great Law Lords of the 20th Century and academic lawyers such as the International Lawyer Sir Arnold McNair and the American jurist Dean Roscoe Pound
Roscoe Pound
Nathan Roscoe Pound was a distinguished American legal scholar and educator. He was Dean of Harvard Law School from 1916 to 1936...
to whom the Golden Medal of the American Bar Association was awarded for 'conspicuous service to the cause of American jurisprudence' was presented in 1940. This medal is still worn by Holdsworth Presidents when delivering their Address. The vice president of the club is Mr George Applebey, Lecturer at Law.
The Holdsworth Society St John's College, Oxford
The Holdsworth Society is the College Law Society of St John's College, Oxford. The Committee consists of the President (the previous year's Secretary), the Secretary and the Librarian. The Holdsworth Society attracts a high calibre of guest speaker, and also hosts termly black tie dinners. The social highlight of the Society's year is undoubtedly the Alumni Dinner, which is held in Hall at the end of Hilary Term.The St John's College Law Library is named The Holdsworth Room after Sir William Searle Holdsworth, Fellow of St. John's 1897-1922 and Vinerian Professor of Law, and later Honorary Fellow. His portrait in pastels by E. Plachter can be seen there.
Portraits
There are at least two portraits of Sir William Holdsworth by BassanoAlexander Bassano
Alexander Bassano was the leading high society portrait photographer in Victorian London.He was the second youngest child of Clemente Bassano, originally a fishmonger of Cranbourne Street, later an oilman and Italian warehouseman of Jermyn Street, London. He opened his first studio in 1850 in...
which are held by the National Portrait Gallery
His portrait in pastels by E. Plachter can be seen in the Holdsworth Room of St John's College, Oxford
St John's College, Oxford
__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...
.
Further reading
- Goodhart, A.L. , (1954), Sir William Searle Holdsworth, O.M., 1871-1944, A Memorial Address, (Bernard Quaritch [for the Selden Society] London)
- John Bosworth , (1987), History of the Birmingham Law Faculty, the First Sixty Years