Sir Cecil Havers | |
|---|---|
 Mr Justice Havers in 1958, byWalter Bird | |
| Judge of the High Court | |
| In office 9 May 1951 – 30 September 1967 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Cecil Robert Havers (1889-11-12)12 November 1889 Norwich,Norfolk, England |
| Died | 5 May 1977(1977-05-05) (aged 87) |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Corpus Christi College, Cambridge |
Sir Cecil Robert Havers (12 November 1889[1] – 5 May 1977) was an Englishbarrister andHigh Court judge.
Havers was born inNorwich, where his father was a solicitor. He was educated atNorwich Grammar School and then atCorpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-classBA in classics in 1912 and anLLB in 1913.[2][3] He played tennis for theUniversity of Cambridge, and played in the men's doubles in the1926 Wimbledon Championships withBasil Lawrence, winning a first-round match in five sets and then losing in the second round.[4]
During the First World War, he was commissioned as a temporarysecond lieutenant in 5th Battalion of theHampshire Regiment (Territorial Force) in January 1915,[5] was promoted to temporary Lieutenant in June 1915[6]and temporary Captain in February 1916.[7] He was transferred to serve as Acting Captain with theTank Corps in April 1918,[8] and then temporary Captain in February 1919.[9] He wasmentioned in dispatches in December 1918 while serving with the Tank Corps.[10]
Having reached the age limit for military service, he retired on 12 November 1939 with the rank ofCaptain.[11]
Havers wascalled to the Bar atInner Temple in 1920, coming top of the bar examinations, and "took silk" to become aKing's Counsel in 1939. He served asrecorder of Chichester from 1939 to 1951. He also served as a judge in theGold Coast in 1944-45, and as aCommissioner of Assize in the midlands in 1949. He became abencher at Inner Temple in 1946, and served as Treasurer in 1971. He was elected as an honorary fellow of Corpus Christi in 1975.
He was appointed aHigh Court judge in 1951, being assigned to theProbate, Divorce and Admiralty Division, and received the customary knighthood. He was transferred to theKing's Bench Division in 1952.
Havers was the trial judge who presided over the conviction ofRuth Ellis formurder in 1955. Ellis was the last woman to be sentenced to death andexecuted in the United Kingdom. In a 2010 television interview his grandson, the actorNigel Havers, revealed that his grandfather had written to theHome Secretary recommending a reprieve as he regarded it as acrime passionnel, but received a curt refusal. He subsequently sent money annually for the upkeep of Ellis's son.[12]
He retired as a full-time judge in 1967, and became DeputyDean of the Arches in 1970.
Havers married Enid Snelling in 1916. They had one daughter,Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, and three sons, Tony, David, andMichael Havers.
His youngest son, Michael, served asSolicitor General from 1972 to 1974, asAttorney General from 1979 to 1987 and then briefly asLord Chancellor; his daughter Elizabeth became the first femaleLord Justice of Appeal in 1988 and the first femalePresident of the Family Division of theHigh Court in 1999.
Through his son Michael, Havers' grandsons arePhilip Havers, aKing's Counsel, andNigel Havers, the actor.