Robert Younger, Baron Blanesburgh Explained

The Lord Blanesburgh
Honorific Prefix:The Right Honourable
Honorific Suffix:GBE, PC
Office:Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Office1:Lord Justice of Appeal
Office2:Justice of the High Court
Alma Mater:Balliol College, Oxford
Termstart:12 October 1923
Termend:27 April 1937
Successor:The Lord Wright
Predecessor:The Viscount Cave
Predecessor2:Sir Thomas Warrington
Termstart2:1915
Termend2:1919
Termstart1:1919
Termend1:1923
Predecessor1:Sir Henry Duke
Successor1:Sir Charles Sargant

Robert Younger, Baron Blanesburgh, (12 September 1861  - 17 August 1946) was a British barrister and judge. The scion of a Scottish brewing family, he practised at the bar of England and Wales, before being appointed to the High Court in 1915, the Court of Appeal in 1919, and the House of Lords in 1923. He served as a law lord until 1937, when failing eyesight forced his retirement.

Biography

The son of James Younger and Janet McEwan (both from important Scottish brewing families), and younger brother of the 1st Viscount Younger of Leckie, he was educated at Edinburgh Academy and Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1883, and with a Master of Arts in 1909.

In 1884 Younger was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple. He was appointed a Queen's Counsel in January 1900,[1] and became a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1907. Between 1915 and 1919, he was High Court Judge, Chancery Division. Invested as a privy counsellor on 25 November 1919, he was Lord Justice of Appeal from 1919 to 1923. On 12 October 1923, he was appointed Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and was created a life peer with the title Baron Blanesburgh, of Alloa in the County of Clackmannanshire. As a judge, Blanesburgh was noted for his formalism. He retired in 1937 due to poor eyesight.

Having been knighted on 20 April 1915, he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 1917. Younger was a fellow of the Royal College of Music and received honorary doctorates of the University of Oxford, University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh. In 1932, he became further Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn. He died aged 84, having never married.

Trivia

Lord Blanesburgh presented the west stained glass window, representing the Tree of Jesse, in Dunblane Cathedral in 1906 in memory of his mother, Janet McEwan. It was designed and created by Clayton and Bell of London.[2]

Arms

Escutcheon:Per saltire Or and Gules a rose counterchanged in base a martlet Sable on a chief indented also Sable three covered cups Or.
Crest:An armed leg couped at the thigh proper garnished and spurred Or.
Supporters:Dexter, the figure of St Blane; Sinister, an Ermine both proper standing upon a mount set with thistles.
Motto:Celer Et Audax (Quick And Bold)[3]

References

Notes and References

  1. New Queen's Counsel. 8 January 1900 . 7 . 365033.
  2. Guide to Dunblane Cathedral by Very Rev J Hutchison Cockburn
  3. Web site: Lincoln's Inn, Baron Blanesburgh . 19 January 2014 . Baz Manning . 16 May 2020.