Raymond Evershed, 1st Baron Evershed

Francis Raymond Evershed, 1st Baron Evershed, PC (8 August 1899 – 3 October 1966) was a British judge who served as Master of the Rolls, and subsequently became a Law Lord.[1]

The Right Honourable The Lord Evershed PC
Master of the Rolls
In office 1 June 1949 – 19 April 1962
Preceded by	The Lord Greene
Succeeded by	The Lord Denning
Personal details
Born	Francis Raymond Evershed 8 August 1899 Stapenhill, Burton upon Trent
Died	3 October 1966 St Andrews Hospital, Northampton
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	(Cecily) Elizabeth Joan
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Profession	Barrister, Judge

Background and education

Evershed was the son of Frank Evershed, a brewer and sportsman, and his wife Florence Helen, daughter of Thomas Lowe. He was educated at Clifton College[2] and Balliol College, Oxford. During the First World War he was a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. In January 1923, he was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn.[3] He then practiced at the Chancery bar.

Legal and judicial career

Evershed was made a K.C. in 1933 and a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1938. He became a High Court Judge in 1944 when he was knighted, and Lord Justice of Appeal in 1947, when he was also made a Privy Counsellor. Between 1949 and 1962, he was Master of the Rolls and served as the U.K. Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in 1950.[3]

He was raised to the peerage as Baron Evershed, of Stapenhill in the County of Derby, on 20 January 1956.[4] In 1962, he was made a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, and was succeeded as Master of the Rolls by Lord Denning.

Personal life

Memorial in King's Lynn Minster

Lord Evershed married Cecily Elizabeth Joan, daughter of Sir Charles Alan Bennett, in 1928. The title became extinct on his death in October 1966, aged 67.[3]

References

1. ODNB article by Nicholls of Birkenhead, Evershed, (Francis) Raymond, Baron Evershed (1899–1966), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 27 March 2008.
2. "Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. ref no 7582: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948
3. Francis Raymond Evershed, 1st and last Baron Evershed
4. "No. 40689". The London Gazette. 20 January 1956. p. 419.

Legal offices
Preceded by The Lord Greene	Master of the Rolls 1949–1962	Succeeded by The Lord Denning
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Evershed 1956–1966	Extinct