Memorial Service

The world of Sir John Mortimer’s character Rumpole of the Bailey sprang to mind during the thanksgiving service for Sir Swinton Thomas, a distinguished judge, at the Temple Church.

Lord Wilson of Culworth, one of the Supreme Court Judges who told Mrs May she needed parliamentary approval before leaving the EU, recalled that Sir Swinton was called to the Bar in 1955 and joined his chambers at 4 Pump Court.

‘In chambers like that, you had to turn your hand to everything. Swinton did crime, divorce and personal injury. He never ducked work on the basis that it wasn’t in his field. But, in the Fifties and Sixties, work at the Bar was in short supply. There were days when members of chambers had nothing to do. Swinton and three colleagues decided to put the vacuum to good use. Every Friday afternoon was to be devoted to playing bridge in El Vino. They instructed the clerks that, if people rang, they were to be told that sadly it was impossible to interrupt an acutely sensitive conference.’

Wilson told how Swinton had once arrived at Paddington from Exeter, only to be met by a clerk with a brief to appear in Plymouth the following day. He had to catch the next train back to Plymouth.

‘He wanted supper and a drink. He left his robes and the unread brief in carriage H and made his way to the dining car in carriage E. While he was in the dining car, the train stopped at Reading and they uncoupled the carriages between F and G. So Swinton proceeded to Plymouth without robes, brief or a toothbrush.’

The items were restored to him in the nick of time, when he rose to his feet at 10.30am. ‘Members of the jury, the charges against the defendant are of the utmost gravity,’ he said, untying the ribbon around the brief, reading about the case for the first time. ‘And you and I will learn even more about them when, as I do now, I call my first witness.’

Wilson said Thomas, who became a judge in 1993, had an outgoing personality and was able to relate to anyone. Anthony Temple QC said Thomas learned much about life while doing National Service. He had a habit of snoring noisily at the theatre but still knew exactly what was going on. He was a popular member of the Garrick Club, which he regarded as the greatest pleasure of his life. He always enjoyed conducting trials against IRA terrorists because the police would drop him outside the Garrick and wait for him there. JAMES HUGHES-ONSLOW