Sir Thomas Raffles Hughes, KC (28 January 1856 – 24 October 1938) was a British barrister. Prominent at the Chancery Bar, he was chairman of the

General Council of the Bar The General Council of the Bar, commonly known as the Bar Council, is the representative body for barristers in England and Wales. Established in 1894, the Bar Council is the "approved regulator" of barristers, but delegates its regulatory functi ...

from 1920 to 1931. The son of Edward Hughes of Huyton Hall, Lancashire, Thomas Hughes was educated at

Birkenhead School Birkenhead School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private, academically-selective, co-educational day school located in Oxton, Merseyside, Oxton, Wirral Peninsula, Wirral, in North West England. The school offers educational opportu ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, where was a scholar and took second-class honours in the

classical tripos The Classical Tripos is the taught course in classics at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge. It is equivalent to '' Literae Humaniores'' at Oxford University. It is traditionally a three-year degree, but for those who have not previ ...

in 1878. He was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

in 1880, and was the pupil of Matthew Ingle Joyce, later a Chancery judge. He joined the Northern Circuit and practiced there until he

took silk A King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Qu ...

in 1898, when he settled in London, practising in the court of Mr Justice Byrne, then of Mr Justice Farwell. When his pupil-master Ingle Joyce was elevated to the High Court in 1900, Hughes moved to his court, dividing up the work with Robert Younger KC (later Lord Blanesburgh). Unlike other Chancery silks, Hughes never went "special" but attached himself to a succession of Chancery judges. He never became a judge, possibly owing the paucity of Chancery Division vacancies as well as timing. Hughes became chairman of the

in 1920 in succession to John Alderson Foote, KC, serving until 1931. He was knighted in 1926.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Thomas Raffles Knights Bachelor 1938 deaths English King's Counsel 19th-century King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Members of Lincoln's Inn People educated at Birkenhead School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English justices of the peace