Notes on this eBook edition

This eBook contains the entire text and all illustrations from “Old Serjeants’ Inn, Chancery Lane”, as published by the Law Union and Rock Insurance Company Limited in 1912.

It was made using Sigil and Calibre, two open-source programs, and is DRM-free. You may read, keep and share non-commercial copies of this version provided they are unaltered, including these notes, but you may not offer any type of download service.

The drawing of 27 Armorial Bearings from 1664 was originally the frontispiece. In order to make it more easily visible I have split it into three sections, which each display as one page. These, and all the other illustrations, are now at the end of the text. Some of the photographs were printed in sepia tones. I have turned them Black and White, as this renders better on an eReader.

The 3 footnotes are enclosed in square brackets and labelled [†], at the end of the next appropriate paragraph.

Comments, corrections, criticism or praise are equally welcome and will all receive an appropriate reply.

Various maps, information about London, and other eBooks can be found at www.maps.thehunthouse.com

April 2012

List of Illustrations

Decorative Panels

Armorial Bearings

Sir Roger Manwood

Chancery Lane about 1600

Sir Thomas Littleton

Sir John Popham

Sir Edward Coke

Serjeants’ Inn about 1800

Sir John Maynard

Sir John Willes

View from Old Serjeants’ Inn

Window at Moat Mount

Monument to the Earl of Mansfield

Serjeants’ Inn

Old Hall

Board Room

General Office

The New Building

Serjeants’ Inn

Faryngdon’s Inne and Chancellor’s Lane are titles by which, at the close of the fourteenth century, a Hostel destined to become famous in succeeding centuries as Serjeants’ Inn, and a thoroughfare which has ever been associated with the profession of the law and around which at the present day cluster many of the leading lights of that profession, were known.

In the earliest records of Serjeants’ Inn the property is mentioned as the inheritance of the See of Ely. By a lease granted in the reign of Edward VI., Goodrich, Bishop of Ely, demised the Inn to Christopher Fulnetty, his brother-in-law, for a period of 81 years. This Goodrich held, besides the See of Ely, the Lord High Chancellorship of England, and on a memorial in Ely Cathedral he is represented in episcopal robes with the Bible in one hand and the Great Seal in the other. The lease granted to Fulnetty was by him assigned to Sir Anthony Ashley, who surrendered it to the Bishop of Ely. Subsequently a fresh lease was granted to Sir Anthony for the term of three lives (namely, Philippa, Sir Anthony’s wife, and two of his servants).

On ground adjoining Serjeants’ Inn Henry III. erected a house for converted Jews in place of a Jews’ House that had been forfeited to him. He also built a church “adjacent to the Inn,” and which was afterwards used as and called “The Chapel for the Custody of the Rolls and Records of Chancerie.”

Chancellor’s Lane is supposed to have been named after a Bishop of Chichester who lived there and was Chancellor about 1292. A narrow street called Chichester Rents, leading out of Chancery Lane, perpetuates the connection of the Bishopric with the locality.

In the time of Edward I. the Lane was in such a bad condition that the then Custos of London had barriers put up to save injuries to passers-by. These barriers were maintained for many years. In an indenture of the fourteenth century Faryngdon’s Inn is referred to as “tenementum domini John Skarle,” but probably both Skarle and Robert Faryngdon, who is named in a Deed of 1404, and who gave his name to the Inn (Farringdon Street and Farringdon Ward of today come from the same family name), held the Inn on behalf of Judges and Serjeants. Skarle was Master of the Rolls, and Robert Faryngdon was a “Clerk of the Chancery.”

The Inn was demised to John Martin, James Strangeways and T. Rolf, Justices of the Law, in 1425. Prior to this demise the property appears to have been vacant for some years, so it may be concluded that the troubles of a landlord with a “house to let” were not unknown in the Middle Ages. John Martin appears to have been a somewhat rebellious character, for though three times summoned to take the degree of Serjeant-at-Law, he disregarded the calls. Ultimately Parliament had to intervene to insist that he and other apprentices should comply with the requisition to become Members of the Order of the Coif. In after years both Martin and Strangeways became Judges of the Common Pleas.

It is probable that the Serjeants-at-Law had lodgings in Serjeants’ Inn prior to 1414, in which year there is an account by the Bailiff of the Bishop of Ely for the repair of a chamber occupied by one Walter Askham, an apprentice or student of the law. Apparently at that time the Inn was let off in separate lodgings, but shortly afterwards the entire Hostel was demised to “Judges and others learned in the law.” In 1416 there is accounted to the Bishop a sum of £6: 13: 4. for the rent and usage of Faryngdon’s Inn. Some quarter of a century later the Inn was let to John Hody “and other servants of the law.” Hody was Chief Justice of the King’s Bench in the reign of Henry VI. A few days before his death he tried and condemned “a gret and konnyng man in astronomye,” Roger Boltingbroke, for labouring “to consume the kinges persone by way of nygromancie.”

Under the title of Faryngdon’s Inn the property was demised in the time of Henry V. to Roger Horton, William Cheyne and Walter Askham, at a rent of £6: 13: 4. Horton and Cheyne were Judges of the King’s Bench, and Askham was probably the apprentice whose chamber had been repaired at the cost of the Bishop in 1414.

Sir Robert Danby, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and other Judges took a lease of the Inn about 1474. The date of Sir Robert Danby’s death is uncertain. An account given by Holinshed of a curious means adopted by one of the Chief Justices to rid himself of life has been supposed to relate to the end of Sir Robert. Holinshed says that the Justice “directed his keeper to shoot any person whom he found in the park at night and who did not stand when called upon, and then placed himself in the way of the fatal shot.”

In 1484 there was granted to Sir Thomas Grey a lease of the “Hostel called Serjeants Inne in Chancelers Lane” at a rent of £4 per annum, Sir Thomas doing all repairs. From this time forward the premises were known as Serjeants’ Inn. In an indenture of some 25 years later the Hostel is again referred to as Serjeants’ Inn, and it was by that indenture demised to John Mordaunt and Humphrey Coningsby, two of the King’s Serjeants-at-Law. A descendant of this Coningsby was raised to the Earldom of that name.

In 1570 a meeting of Judges and Serjeants was held at the Inn to make regulations limiting the number of persons “to be admitted to the Barr,” the ostensible object being to keep the monopoly of practice at the Bar to a comparatively small number of Serjeants.

By a Deed of 1618 the Earl of Cumberland demised to Sir Lawrence Tanfield, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and other Judges and Serjeants-at-Law, part of Clifford’s Inn Garden, adjoining Serjeants’ Inn. This quaint document proceeds:-

“KNOW YE that we for the especial love which we bear to the Justices of the Lord the King and Serjeants-at-Law now dwelling in the Serjeants Inn in Chancery Lane London And being willing to show them special favour and that successively henceforth as well the said Justices of the Lord the King and Serjeants-at-Law who now dwell in the said Inn as others who shall in future abide in the said Inn may have a certain part of a certain garden called Cliffords Inn garden in which they may walk agreeably for their better health and that they may enjoy the benefit of the air which now they have not or otherwise dispose of that part as to them it shall better seem to be expedient.”

The consideration for this benefit was that the Judges and Serjeants should render to the Earl of Cumberland “at the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Mary the Virgin one mark of silver or one pair of gilt spurs of the price of one mark yearly as often as they may be asked at the Inn called Serjeants’ Inn in Chancery Lane.”

In Serjeants’ Inn was held the judicial commission to settle the boundaries of London after the Great Fire of 1666. On this commission sat Sir Matthew Hale, one of the most eminent judges of his day. A rule of his was “not to be biassed with compassion to the poor or favour to the rich,” and no doubt to the application of that rule may be attributed the general satisfaction which was given by the settlement of the boundaries and of conflicting claims.

Amongst the many eminent men who resided in the Inn during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was Sir Richard Hutton. Just before her death Queen Elizabeth summoned Richard Hutton to take the degree of the Coif. He was made Recorder of York in 1608, and some ten years afterwards was appointed Judge of the Common Pleas. In addressing Sir Richard at the swearing-in as a Judge, Lord Chancellor Bacon said: “The King being duly informed of your learning, integrity, discretion, experience, means and reputation in your country, has thought fit not to leave you these talents to be employed upon yourself only but to call you to serve himself and his people.” Sir Richard Hutton died at Serjeants’ Inn 25th February 1639, and was buried in St. Dunstan’s, Fleet Street.

Lord Keeper Guilford also had chambers in the Inn, and would no doubt benefit by the kindly provision of the Earl of Cumberland of “a certain part” of CIifford’s Inn Garden in which the Serjeants might “walk agreeably for their better health.”

Robert Hyde, cousin of the Earl of Clarendon (whose daughter married the Duke of York, and was the mother of Queen Anne and of Queen Mary, wife of William III.), resided in Serjeants’ Inn, and his coat-of-arms was in the Hall in 1664.

Robert Hyde took the degree of the Coif in 1640. At his house at Heale, Wiltshire, Charles II. found shelter during the escape after the Battle of Worcester A Knighthood was conferred on Robert Hyde at the Restoration, and he was appointed a Judge of the Common Pleas. There came before him the extraordinarily mysterious case of the three Perrys, a mother and two sons, who were tried and condemned to be hanged for the murder of one William Harrison. The body of Harrison could not be found, and another Judge had, on that account, refused to entertain the charge. Several years after the Perrys were executed Harrison appeared and stated that he had been kidnapped and sold into slavery, from which he escaped.

The Hall was rebuilt in 1678, and on the exterior of it were two decorative panels bearing this date and the royal badge with the monogram of Charles II.

Sir Henry Gould, a Judge of the King’s Bench, died at his chambers in Serjeants’ Inn in March 1710. He had a country residence at Sharpham Park. Somersetshire, which in after years was the birthplace of Henry Fielding, whose mother, Sarah (married to Lieut.-General Fielding, nephew of the Earl of Denbigh), was a daughter of the Judge.

A grandson and namesake of Sir Henry became a Judge of the Common Pleas.

When Lord Mansfield’s house was burnt by the Gordon Rioters, the Judges were offered the protection of the military, but it is said that Judge Gould refused the proffered aid, and declared that he would rather die than live under any other than the laws of England.

An instance of the “glorious uncertainty of the law” is afforded by a case tried by Justice Gould. Two men had stolen poultry. One of them was apprehended and sentenced by another Judge to a few months’ imprisonment. On hearing this sentence the other culprit surrendered, and was tried at the following assizes. Unfortunately for him, Justice Gould, who presided at these assizes, fancied that a man who sets out with stealing fowls ends in committing an atrocious crime, and sentenced the criminal to transportation.

After proceeding for about two hours with a trial at York assizes, Justice Gould observed there were only eleven jurymen in the box. “Where is the twelfth?” he asked. “Please you, my Lord,” said one of the eleven, “he has gone home about some business, but has left his verdict with me.”

Up to 1758 the Serjeants-at-Law had another Inn in Fleet Street, but in that year the Fleet Street members joined the Inn in Chancery Lane, and thenceforward, until the historic Inn came to the parting of the ways with the Order with which for at least six centuries it had been connected, the entire Serjeants’ fraternity united at the Chancery Lane quarters.

Writing about Serjeants’ Inn at the beginning of the nineteenth century William Herbert says:-

“The principal entrance is from Chancery Lane, and fronts the hall; the second court communicates with Clifford’s Inn, by means of a small passage. The ascent to the hall is by a very handsome flight of stone steps and balustrade. It is built of brick with stone cornices, and ornamented in front with a handsome pediment surrounded by a turret and clock. The inside is not large, but forms a well-proportioned apartment; and the windows, like those of most of the other halls, are decorated with armorial bearings in stained glass. The chapel is a small neat edifice with seats for the judges, but is in no ways remarkable.”

In the reign of William IV. an Act of Parliament was passed for carrying into effect agreements between the Bishop of Ely and the Society of Judges and Serjeants-at-Law in regard to Serjeants’ Inn. Some part of the property was rebuilt in 1837 under the direction of Sir Robert Smirke, one of the most noted architects of his day, and who designed the British Museum, Covent Garden Theatre (burnt in 1856), and other public buildings. The plain, if not indeed ugly building, which until its demolition in 1910 faced Chancery Lane, cannot, however, be called a great tribute to architectural genius.

Readers of Pickwick will remember that Mr. Pickwick, accompanied by his Attorney, repaired to Serjeants’ Inn in Chancery Lane to procure a writ of Habeas Corpus, or, as the faithful Weller called it, “have-his-carcass,” before his removal to the Fleet Prison.

Their ancient privileges gone, the Serjeants decided to sell the property of the Inn, which was purchased in 1877 by one of their number. The last meeting of the Order was held in April in that year, when there were present:- Lord Chief Justice Cockburn, Lord Chief Justice Coleridge, Lord Chief Baron Kelly, Mr. Baron BramwelI, Mr. Justice Brett, Sir Montague Smith, Mr. Justice MelIor, Mr. Justice Lush, Mr. Justice Denman, Mr. Justice Grove, Mr. Baron Pollock, Mr. Baron Huddleston, Mr. Justice Lindley, Serjeant Parry, Serjeant Simon, Serjeant Wells, Serjeant Petersdorff, Serjeant Pulling, and the Treasurer, Serjeant Ballantine.

The portraits of Judges and Serjeants which were then in the Hall (formerly the chapel of the Inn) were presented to the National Portrait Gallery. For several years after the Inn had passed out of the possession of the Order, it was occupied principally as offices by barristers and solicitors. In 1909 the property was acquired by the Law Union & Rock Insurance Company Limited. The buildings then standing were demolished, and on the site (partly also on the site of Clifford’s Inn) the Company have erected an extensive and handsome structure for their own occupation and, in part, for law offices and the like.

———

The Order of the Coif, or of Serjeants-at-Law, goes back to remote antiquity. Serjeants-at-Law are mentioned in a Statute of Edward I., and Edward II. by special writ called two Serjeants to be King’s Serjeants. Up to the time of Henry III. the practice of law was mainly carried on by members of the priesthood, and until a far later date the office of Chancellor was almost invariably held by a Churchman. It was in the reign of Henry III. that judicial positions began to be filled by men who were not in Holy Orders, but who had pleaded the King’s causes for him, as his Serjeants or Servants-at-Law; and about this time there came on the scene laymen who, as Attorneys-at-Law, appeared on behalf of litigants.

The coif was originally a cap of fine linen fitted close to the head. Matthew Paris surmised that the coif was first used to hide the priestly tonsure in Court, but various other sources of origin have been suggested, one being that the coif was brought over from Eastern lands by the Knights Templar. In ancient days Serjeants-at-Law were termed “Fratres servientes,” and were serving brothers of the Knights Templar. It was the custom of Serjeants and Judges to address one another as “Brother,” and it was the formula in the Court of Westminster for a Judge, on beholding a newly-created Serjeant, to say, “I think I see a brother.”

Memorial windows and effigies of members of the Order of the Coif who died in the fifteenth century and earlier show that the coif was in those days the sole head covering used in Court. Subsequently Judges took to wearing a black cap over the coif. It was an ancient privilege that the coif should not be removed, even in the royal presence. On passing sentence of death it was the custom to cover or veil the Judge’s coif by a black cap as a token of sorrow. To this is to be traced the practice still prevailing of Judges assuming a black cap when pronouncing sentence of death. In the days of Charles II. it became fashionable to wear long artificial hair and to use hair powder; following this fashion Judges and Serjeants wore wigs and, having been previously known as “Gentlemen of the long robe,” were referred to as “Gentlemen of the long wig.” The wig plus the coif and the cap were, we may presume, found too heavy a burden to place upon legal intelligence, for the cap resolved itself ultimately into a small black patch, still continued in the judicial head covering, while the coif is represented by a frill of silk round the patch.

In the reigns of Edward VI., Elizabeth and James I., the Speaker of the House of Commons was almost always selected from the Serjeants-at-Law. Up to the time of Elizabeth, with rare exceptions, the woolsack fell to churchmen, but thenceforward it was entrusted generally to Serjeants-at-Law. When the Great Seal had to be put into commission in 1688 three Serjeants-at-Law were chosen for the purpose, one of whom was Serjeant Maynard.

For many years it was the custom of the Serjeants to meet their clients at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where each member of the Order of the Coif had his allotted pillar at which his clients might find him. Chaucer alludes to this in the Canterbury Tales:-

A serjeant of the law, wary and wyse,

That often had ye been at the parvyse.[†]

[† The porch of the Cathedral.]

In Origines Juridiciales Sir William Dugdale records the form and order of creating a Serjeant-at-Law (about 1650) thus:-

“On the morning of that day on which he is to receive his Degree, Wine and Cakes are sent to one of the Serjeant’s Innes, for the Judges and Serjeants, as also to that Inne of Court whereof the new Serjeant is, there to be presented to the Benchers and others of that Society. After which repast the said Benchers and Barristers repair to the Serjeants Inne, where all the old Serjeants are, passing two and two together, the Warden of the Fleet and his Tipstaves, with the Marshall of the Court of Common Pleas, proceeding all bareheaded before them.” They then proceed to Westminster. The Serjeant elect, after preliminary ceremonies, “kneeleth down at the feet of the Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, where having first taken the oath of supremacy, the oath of Serjeant-at-Law is by the Clerk of the Crown read to him, in manner following: ‘Ye shall swear well and truly to serve the King’s people as one of the Serjeants at the Law, and ye shall truly counsail them that ye be retained with, after your cunning; and ye shall not defer or delay their causes willingly, for covetise of money, or other thing, that ye may turn ye to profit, and ye shall give due attendance accordingly so help ye God.’”

“Which being done the Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench putteth the Law Coif on his head and the Hood on his shoulder. After which performed the Court ariseth and all depart.”

It was customary for a newly-created Serjeant to present gold rings to the Sovereign, the Lord Chancellor and others as a symbol of good faith, and until 1759 Serjeants were expected also to give liveries to retainers and friends.

To be admitted a member of the Order of the Coif must, in ancient days, have been an expensive procedure, for apart from these gifts, great feasts were held. The Hall of Old Serjeants’ Inn was not large enough for these scenes of revelry which usually took place at Ely House, St. John’s Priory, or Lambeth Palace. There is an account of a Serjeant’s feast lasting over five days. At one of these functions Henry VIIL, Queen Catherine, Foreign Ambassadors, and the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London were present.

Serjeants, except King’s Serjeants, were created by writ of summons under the Great Seal. They enjoyed a social precedence after Knights Bachelor and before Companions of the Bath. An interesting indication of the formality attending the discharge of a Serjeant is found in the discharge of Queen Elizabeth “of the state and degree of Serjeant of the Law” to Thomas Fleming, who was then made the Queen’s Solicitor General:-

“ELIZABETH etc. to our truly and well beloved Subject Thomas Fleming Serjeant at the law, greeting. Where we were minded, and do intend otherwise to imploy you in our service; know ye, that we, as wel in consideration thereof, as divers other good causes and considerations us moving of our especial grace and mere motion, have acquitted, released, and discharged you, of and for being any more from henceforth Serjeant-at-Law, and of the name, title, and degree of Serjeant-at-Law, and of and from all attendance and service, that you should or ought to give or do at any time or times or at any place or places, for or by reason of your being Serjeant-at-Law; or by reason of the said office, state or degree of Serjeant-at-Law; And also we release and discharge for wearing of any quoif commonly called a Serjeant’s Quoif; and of and for the wearing of all other apparel, Garments, Vestures and Habits, that by the Laws and Customs of this our Realm ye should or ought to wear or use, for that ye were or be Serjeant-at-Law; and generally of and for all other things whatsoever, that ye by any manner of means ought or are bound to do, use or exercise, by reason ye were or be Serjeant-at-Law; as clearly and freely to all intents and purposes, as though ye never had been Serjeant-at-Law, or had never taken upon you the office state or degree of Serjeant-at-Law, any Statute, Law, Custome or use, had, made, or used to the contrary notwithstanding.

Witness our Self at Westminster the 5th day of November in the 37th year of our reign.

So long ago as 1292 Serjeants were empowered by an Ordinance of Edward I. to select from students and apprentices of the law men qualified to transact affairs in the King’s Courts. Judges of the superior courts were for over six centuries drawn from the Order of Serjeants.

In his treatise De Laudibus Legum Angliae, Sir John Fortescue [†] (who was made Chief Justice of the King’s Bench in 1442) says:-

“None shall be exalted to the bench without first taking on him the degree of serjeant, nor can he receive this degree without having studied the law at least sixteen years. And as a sign that all justices are thus graduate, every of them, whilst he sits in the king’s court, shall wear a white silk coif (his peculiar badge of honour); and this coif neither justice nor serjeant shall ever put off, no, not in the king’s presence ever, though he be in talk with his majesty.”

[† Sir John Fortescue came from an ancient family whose origin can be traced, without the loss of a link, to the Norman Conquest. His brother, Sir Henry Fortescue, was Chief Justice of the King’s Bench in Ireland. Sir John was created a Serjeant-at-Law in 1429, and in that year also became Chief Justice of the King’s Bench. He fought in the Wars of the Roses and was taken prisoner at the battle of Tewkesbury. After an adventurous career he died at the age of 90 and was buried at Ebrington in Gloucestershire. The titles of Earl Fortescue and Viscount Ebrington are borne by the descendants of Sir John.]

At a time when the acceptance of the rank of King’s Counsel not only precluded a barrister from appearing against the Crown but, if he were a Member of Parliament, rendered his seat vacant, patents of precedence were granted for the purpose of conferring a similar mark of distinction on eminent counsel without the disabilities which attached to the rank of King’s Counsel.

It is related that at the investiture of a certain Serjeant during the last century no coif was available at the swearing-in. The Lord Chancellor’s penwiper was used to meet the emergency!

Until 1845 members of the Order of the Coif had the exclusive right of audience as leading counsel in the Court of Common Pleas – a most valuable monopoly. When this right ceased it became customary to grant patents of precedence to a number of the Serjeants-at-Law entitling them to rank after Counsel of the Crown already created and before those of subsequent creation.

In Experiences of a Barrister’s Life Mr. Serjeant Ballantine, the last Treasurer of the Society of Judges and Serjeants, mentions a custom of the Serjeants of attending the banquets of the Lord Mayor of London:-

“We were and had been from time immemorial connected with the Corporation of the City of London, and, inasmuch as the greatest compliment appreciated by that august body was annually paid to us, we were doubtless once upon a time of no small importance ourselves. We received an invitation to dine at the Lord Mayor’s dinner on November 9, and arrayed in robes that gave us as much claim to notice as the men in armour, and preceded by a personage known as the City Marshal, we were assigned seats amongst the principal guests at that great festival, and it was really a sight worthy of notice.”

“I do not remember dining more than upon one occasion in my official capacity. On this occasion the scarlet robes and heavy cumbrous wig, necessary to be worn, destroyed all possibility of enjoyment. The Serjeants of the Inn were also invited one Sunday in May or June, I forget which, to attend the service in St. Paul’s Cathedral. This was a very interesting ceremony; and although the names of the clergymen whom I heard preach have escaped my memory, I remember that the sermons were highly interesting and intellectual; but the beauty of the spiritual fare was as greatly destroyed by our costume upon these occasions, as our enjoyment was of the luxuries so liberally provided upon the occasion of the Lord Mayors’ feasts.”

Under the operation of the Judicature Act of 1873 the special privileges of the Serjeants practically ended.

Members of the Order of the Coif in the twelfth century included Geoffrey Ridel, Bishop of Ely and Chief Justiciary of England, John de Cumin, Archbishop of Dublin, Robert de Berkeley (founder of the Hospital of St. Catherine, Bristol), and Ranulph de Glanvil, Chief Justiciary, who died at the siege of Acre.

Apparently the last creation of Serjeants-at-Law took place in 1875 when Baron Hudleston – the last Baron of the ancient Court of Exchequer – was admitted to the Order.

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The Law Union & Rock Insurance Company Limited, the present owners of Serjeants’ Inn, may be described as a triple partnership, for the Company is a combination of the Law Union Fire & Life Office, the Crown Life Office, and the Rock Life Assurance Company. The Rock was established in 1806, the Crown in 1825, and the Law Union in 1854.

On the amalgamation of the Crown Office with the Law Union in 1892 the Company became known as the Law Union & Crown, and seventeen years later, when the Law Union & Crown and the Rock combined, the name was changed to the Law Union & Rock, for although sentiment dictated the retention of the name of the old Crown Office, a combination of the titles of all three Companies would have been too cumbersome for commercial usage.

The first office of the Crown was in New Bridge Street, very near that of the Rock. Subsequently the Crown removed to Fleet Street, occupying a building near the entrance to Clifford’s Inn. The Rock Office in New Bridge Street overlooked the old Bridewell, which was once used as a house of detention. A lady [†] who was born in the Rock Office in 1809 (she was the daughter of the first Actuary of the Institution) relates in her Memoirs how her childish imagination was filled with horror at the glimpses she caught through the barred windows of the prisoners, who would grin at her from behind the rails.

[† This lady married Augustus De Morgan, the famous actuary and mathematician. De Morgan died in 1871, and his widow published a biography of him.]

In the first Minute Book of the Crown there is an entry to the effect that a sign bearing the name of the Office be placed on the front of the Company’s house, “the said sign to be of the same size as one on the exterior of the Rock premises,” while in the preliminary share prospectus of the Law Union mention is made of the then value of Rock shares. In view of subsequent amalgamations it is odd to find these references to the Rock.

For some half a century the offices of the Law Union were in Chancery Lane, opposite Old Serjeants’ Inn.

A footnote to the Report of the first annual meeting of the Proprietors of the Law Union records that the vote of thanks to the Chairman was moved by. Mr. Serjeant Manning, who, about that time, acted as Treasurer of Serjeants’ Inn. On Serjeant Manning’s retirement, the Treasurership fell to a son of the well-known judge whom Dickens took for the prototype of Justice Stareleigh, President at the trial of Bardell v. Pickwick. It will be remembered that the leading counsel in that famous trial were Serjeants-at-law.

“Bardell v. Pickwick,” cried the gentleman in black, calling on the case which stood first on the list.

“I am for the plaintiff, my Lord,” said Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz.

“Who is with you, brother Buzfuz?’ said the Judge.

Mr. Skirnpin bowed to intimate that he was.

“I appear for the defendant, my Lord,” said Mr. Serjeant Snubbin.

“Anybody with you, brother Snubbin?” inquired the Court.

“Mr. Phunky, my Lord,” replied Serjeant Snubbin.

“Serjeant Buzfuz and Mr. Skimpin for the plaintiff,” said the Judge, writing down the names in his note-book, “and for the defendant Serjeant Snubbin and Mr. Monkey.”

“Beg your Lordship’s pardon, Phunky.”

“Oh, very good,” said the Judge, “I never had the pleasure of hearing the gentleman’s name before.”

The early annals of the Offices combined in the “Law Union & Rock” contain many quaint references. There is, for instance, a solemn resolution of the Board of Directors of one of these Companies to the effect that the Office clock shall be kept five minutes later than the clock of St. Paul’s Cathedral, presumably to give the worthy gentlemen on the Board a little extra grace to report themselves as punctually in attendance at the meeting, which was then held at 12 o’clock; an impression which is strengthened on noticing a resolution passed just afterwards, that “the Directors be paid by a sum to be placed upon the Board Room table, to be divided amongst those gentlemen who were in attendance punctually at the time fixed for the meeting.”

One of the earliest assurances granted by the Crown was on the life of Princess Victoria of Kent (then a child of seven), afterwards Queen Victoria. The third Earl of Mansfield (a descendant of the famous Lord Chief Justice) effected an assurance in the Crown at the same time as that on the life of the little Princess was granted. He died at Scone Palace – where the first Earl of Mansfield was born – at the age of 92.

What tales of romance, what scenes of tragedy and of comedy, what stories of lives well spent and of lives miss-spent, of high ambitions richly fulfilled, of radiant hope, of fallen greatness and of dark despair, could the walls of Serjeants’ Inn unfold had they but a tongue as well as the proverbial ears. Musing upon ancient days there comes into the vision a stately pageant of priests and prelates, makers and administrators of law, pleaders at the bar, chancellors and judges who, members of the Order of the Coif, have at one time or other of its history had associations with Serjeants’ Inn.

In the glories of painted windows, of sculptured monuments, and of pious benefactions are enshrined the memories of many famous Serjeants of days gone by, not a few of whom made their mark on the destinies of their country.

At one time there were four if not more Hostels used by the Serjeants and Judges, but the Inn in Chancery Lane was the last survivor.

Though the Order with all its pomp and dignity, its rich traditions and great ceremonies, is no more, the title by which its ancient Hostel has for centuries been known will be perpetuated, for the Directors of the Law Union & Rock Insurance Company have given to the structure erected in 1910-11 the name of its predecessors on the same site – “Old Sergeants’ Inn.”

———

THE portraits of Sir Roger Manwood, Sir John Maynard, Sir Edward Coke, Sir John Popham and Sir John Willes, appearing in this volume, are from pictures formerly in Serjeants’ Inn and which are part of a collection presented by the Honourable Society of Judges and Serjeants-at-Law to the National Portrait Gallery in 1877.

Besides several paintings the collection comprised a number of engravings of Judges and Serjeants, including portraits of Sir John Fortescue, Serjeant Glynne, Sir Henry Gould, Lord Keeper Guilford and Sir Matthew Hale, who are mentioned in these pages.

SIR ROGER MANWOOD became Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer in 1578. He was one of the Commissioners at the trial of Mary Queen of Scots. Sandwich Grammar School was founded by him.

“IMMORTAL WITHOUT A SOUL.”

“Corporations are invisible and immortal, but they have no soul and therefore no subpœna lieth against them.” This was the opinion of Chief Baron Manwood touching Corporations.

SIR THOMAS LITTLETON, the author of the celebrated Treatise on Tenures which Sir Edward Coke described as “the most perfect and absolute work that ever was written in any human science,” was descended from a family established at South Lyttelton, Worcestershire, as early as the reign of Henry II. He was born at the family seat of Frankley, and was called to the degree of the Coif in July 1453. Sir Thomas was appointed Steward of the Court of Marshalsea of the King’s Household, and subsequently became King’s Serjeant, and later a Judge of the Common Pleas. It is said that he “added dignity to the law by his learning and impartiality, uninfluenced by the passions of the contending Houses of York and Lancaster.” Sir Thomas died at Frankley in 1481 and was buried in Worcester Cathedral.

The portrait is from a picture in the possesion of the Rt. Hon. Alfred Lyttelton, K.C., M.P. (Chairman of the Law Union and Rock Insurance Company).

SIR JOHN POPHAM was elected Speaker of the House of Commons in 1581, and subsequently became Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench. He presided at the trials of Sir Walter Raleigh and the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot.

It is related of him that, when attending Queen Elizabeth on some occasion, she said. “Well, Mr. Speaker, what has passed in the Lower House?” he answered, “If it please your Majesty, seven weeks.”

Amongst several estates Sir John possessed was that of Littlecote, Wiltshire. Tradition makes the venerable mansion at Littlecote the scene of a terrible murder. Sir Walter Scott based the Ballad in Rokeby on this tradition.

SIR EDWARD COKE, author of the celebrated law treatise Coke Upon Littleton, was successively Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and of the King’s Bench. During the trial of the murderers of Sir Thomas Overbury, Coke, it is believed, resided in Serjeants’ Inn.

SIR JOHN MAYNARD was a member of the Committees managing the impeachment of the Earl of Stafford and of Archbishop Laud. Cromwell appointed him Serjeant to the Commonwealth. It is related that Judge Jeffreys, when Maynard then aged was arguing against some judicial dictum, told him, “You have grown so old as to forget your law.” Maynard retorted, “’Tis true I have forgotten more law than ever you knew.”

Pepys says, rather unkindly: “Thus did the day end (Coronation Day of Charles II.) with joy everywhere; and I have not heard of any mischance to anybody through it all, but only to Serjeant Glynne, whose horse fell upon him yesterday, and is like to kill him, which people do please themselves to see how just God is to punish the rogue at such a time as this; he being now one of the King’s Serjeants and rode in the cavalcade with Maynard, to whom people wish the same fortune.”

Sir John’s passion for law ruled him to such a degree that he left a will purposely worded to cause litigation in order that certain questions which had been “moot points” in his lifetime might be settled for the benefit of posterity.

SIR JOHN WILLES, was Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, over which Court he presided for nearly twenty-five years.

WILLIAM MURRAY, first Earl of Mansfield, was born at Scone Palace in 1705. He became Solicitor-General and entered Parliament as Member for Boroughbridge. After taking the degree of the Coif, he was appointed Chief Justice of the King’s Bench and at the same time created Lord Mansfield of Mansfield in the County of Nottingham. His house in Bloomsbury Square. London. containing a valuable library was burnt in the “No Popery” Riots of 1780. Lord Mansfield refused to accept any compensation for this loss. He it was who first pronounced that “a slave once brought into England becomes free.” He retired from the Bench in 1788. and died five years afterwards at his residence, Caen Wood, Hampstead.

A portrait of Lord Mansfield was in the collection of pictures at Serjeants’ Inn.

Table of Contents

Notes on this edition

Title Page

List of Illustrations

Serjeants' Inn

Illustrations