Sir George Albert Bonner (9 March 1862 – 27 April 1952) was a British

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

and

legal scholar Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the a ...

. From 1906 to 1937, he served as a Master of the

King's Bench Division The King's Bench Division (or Queen's Bench Division when the monarch is female) of the High Court of Justice deals with a wide range of common law cases and has supervisory responsibility over certain lower courts. It hears appeals on point ...

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...

. In 1927 he was appointed as the Senior Master of the King's Bench and

King's Remembrancer The King's Remembrancer (or Queen's Remembrancer) is an ancient judicial post in the legal system of England and Wales. Since the Lord Chancellor no longer sits as a judge, the Remembrancer is the oldest judicial position in continual existence ...

, the most ancient position in the British judiciary. Later that year he was

knight 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 ...

ed as a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

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of 1927. He also produced several works of legal scholarship, including 'The Law of Motor Cars and Hackney and other Carriages on the Highways', one of the earliest texts on the laws of automobiles, published in 1898.

Biography

Early life

George Bonner was born on 9 March 1862, the second son of Charles Foster Bonner and Elizabeth Swaine. His father was a successful solicitor based in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

and the family grew up in

Ayscoughfee Hall Ayscoughfee Hall is a grade I listed building and modest associated parkland in central Spalding, Lincolnshire, England, and is a landmark on the fen tour. History The house, currently a museum, was built for a local wool merchant, tradi ...

in Spalding. He attended Magdalen College School in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

before going up to study law at

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

. Despite failing his

Moderations Honour Moderations (or ''Mods'') are a set of examinations at the University of Oxford at the end of the first part of some degree courses (e.g., Greats or '' Literae Humaniores''). Honour Moderations candidates have a class awarded (hence the ...

(first year exams) and the mandatory

divinity Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...

paper, Bonner graduated with a fourth class degree in 1883. He was then called to the bar,

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in June 1885.

Career

After practising law as a Barrister for a decade, in 1898 Bonner published ''The Law of Motor Cars and Hackney and other Carriages on the Highways'', an early work setting out the law in relation to motor cars which at the time still required individuals to walk in front of the automobile with a flag. A second edition was published in 1905. Later that year, Bonner was given a temporary judicial appointment in

British West Africa British West Africa was the collective name for British settlements in West Africa during the colonial period, either in the general geographical sense or the formal colonial administrative entity. British West Africa as a colonial entity was ...

by the

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Sir Richard Webster following a recent native uprising. Arriving in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

, he lived with the

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for several weeks before setting out on his circuit across the north of country where he was to sentence those natives found guilty of various crimes during the insurrection in which over 600 people were murdered. He oversaw the sentencing of, amongst others, 240 individuals found guilty of capital offences, sentencing 151 of them to death but recommending mercy for all those found guilty. 19 of the individuals ended up being hanged. He returned home to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in December of that year. Bonner was appointed a Master of the King's Bench Division of the

in January 1906, serving for the following 31 years. In 1927 he was made the Senior Master of the court, thus assuming the role of the King's

Remembrancer The Remembrancer was originally a subordinate officer of the English Exchequer. The office is of great antiquity, the holder having been termed remembrancer, memorator, rememorator, registrar, keeper of the register, despatcher of business. The R ...

, now the most ancient judicial position in the United Kingdom. Later that year, in King George V's Birthday Honours he was knighted as a Knight Bachelor. He retired from his role on the King's Bench in 1937. Following his retirement, he undertook tribunal work for aliens whose status had changed due to the outbreak of war from that of "refugee" to "enemy alien", as a result of which on 1 November 1939 he and his co-tribunal chairmen wrote a lengthy and important letter to ''The Times'' identifying the brutalities of the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

and its

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

Personal life

Bonner was a keen horseman all his life and was a member of the Pegasus Club, a point-to-point club for members of the Bar, which he joined in 1901. His horse "The Count" came 2nd in the Bar Heavy-Weight Race in 1911. Bonner remained chairman of the club during the war years and kept the club alive during this difficult period. He was also a keen golfer and member of the Bar Golfing Society. He was an active

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

attaining the rank of Past Assistant Grand Registrar, having been initiated in the Victoria Rifles Lodge No.822 in 1891 from which he resigned five years later, but remaining a member of the Midland & Oxford Bar Lodge and the

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court: Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple, and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have s ...

Chapter for many years. He was also an honorary member of the Northern Bar Lodge.

Death

On 19 December 1896, Bonner married Eveleen Carolyn Lewis at Kensington Parish Church. They had two daughters, Sylvia Concanen Swaine Bonner and Eveleen Frances Calthrop Bonner. Sir George spent the last few years of his life in Oakley Hall in

Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...

. He died on 27 April 1952, bequeathing his estate to his five grandchildren.

Published works

* The Law of Motor Cars and Hackney and other Carriages on the Highways - first published in 1898, second edition in 1905 * A History of the Office of the King's Remembrancer - 1928 * Notes on Niblett Hall and the Alienation Office - 1942 * The Gold Collar of SS and the Trial of the Pyx - 1943

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonner, George 1862 births 1952 deaths 20th-century English judges Masters of the High Court (England and Wales) Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate judges People educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford