
Sir Ernest Handforth Goodman Roberts (20 April 1890
– 14 February 1969)
was a
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, of or about Wales
* Welsh language, spoken in Wales
* Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales
Places
* Welsh, Arkansas, U.S.
* Welsh, Louisiana, U.S.
* Welsh, Ohio, U.S.
* Welsh Basin, during t ...
barrister and
Conservative Party politician who served as
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Flintshire
Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...
from 1924 to 1929, before becoming the Chief Justice of the Rangoon High Court.
Biography
Roberts was educated at
Malvern College
Malvern College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging coeducational boarding school, boarding and day school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school ...
and
Trinity College, Oxford
Trinity College (full name: The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight)) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in E ...
, where he was
President of the Oxford Union
Past elected presidents of the Oxford Union are listed below, with their college and the year/term in which they served. ''Iterum'' indicates that a person was serving a second term as president (which is not possible under the current Union rule ...
. During the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, he was a captain in the
Royal Welch Fusiliers
The Royal Welch Fusiliers () was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, and part of the Prince of Wales's Division, that was founded in 1689, shortly after the Glorious Revolution. In 1702, it was designated a fusilier regiment and becam ...
and a court-martial officer in Palestine, for which he was mentioned in despatches.
Roberts was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1916. He first stood for election to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
at the
1923 general election, when he failed to unseat the sitting
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist.
* An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...
MP
Thomas Henry Parry. At the
1924 general election, when the reappearance of a
Labour Party candidate split created a 3-way contest, he won the seat by a comfortable majority of 12% of the votes. He was defeated at the
1929 general election, and did not stand for
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
again.
From 1936, when he was
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
, to 1948 he was the
Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Rangoon. He was made a
Queen's Counsel
A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...
in 1949 and frequently served as
Commissioner of Assize
The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...
.
References
External links
*
1890 births
1969 deaths
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies
UK MPs 1924–1929
Presidents of the Oxford Union
Judges from British Burma
Knights Bachelor
English King's Counsel
20th-century King's Counsel
Members of the Inner Temple
Royal Welch Fusiliers officers
British Army personnel of World War I
Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford
People educated at Malvern College
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