Inn & About
Number 46, Spring 2026
Readers may be interested to know that the co-founder of the Canal Museum in London, Dinah Hutchinson, died recently aged 90. She was a member of the Inn, and passed her Bar Finals when 8.5 months’ pregnant, but does not appear to have practised. She lived in a house backing onto Regent’s Canal, and oversaw the cleaning up of the path beside the Canal as well as the establishment of the museum. Many are the ways and byways of the Inn.
Another member, Malcolm Charles Dutchman-Smith, died recently, who will be known to everyone who has undergone judicial training at Warwick as Arthur Strawbridge, star of many videos. Malcolm started professional life as a solicitor, and transferred to the Bar, where he was great success and much-loved figure on the Northern Circuit. We are grateful to Greg Hoare for writing a piece about his background, which is now in the care of the Archivist.
A new book is due out by Master Michael Beloff, entitled Four Faces of the Law, to be published by Bloomsbury Publishing. We look forward to reading and reviewing it in due course.
An exhibition in London at the gallery of Abbott and Holder featured some of the work of Edna Clarke Hall, nee Waugh (1879-1979). She acquired a studio at 2 South Square. Her talent is obvious from the works featured on the website www.abbottandholder.co.uk. We hope to feature an article about her in a future issue of Graya News.
A Reminder of a Famous Trial
What happens today constantly finds cause to remind us not only of the nation’s past but of the enduring story of the Inn too. On 20 January 2026 a rare oak chair, belonging to Judge John Bradshaw, a member of Gray’s, who presided over the trial of Charles I in Westminster Hall in January 1649 at the end of the Civil War, was auctioned in Salisbury, Wilts . In finding the King guilty of treason and in sentencing the monarch to death , Bradshaw made constitutional history. The inscription on the underside of the chair reads :‘This chair belonged to John Bradshawe of Bradshawe Hall, Derby SH presiding judge of the trial of King Charles I.’
The chair sold for the amazing sum of £32,500, the guide price being £1,500 -£2,500! The explanation is probably that the chair is believed by some to be the one Bradshaw sat upon during the trial. What the evidence is for such a belief remains tenuous. Note the inscription on the underside of the chair makes no such claim. Curious that!
The Inn possesses a small image of Bradshaw painted in oil by Richard Foster which is located in the Bench Lobby. (Reproduced above with his permission and that of the photograher Justine Trickett)
Statute Law Society
On 16 April, there will be a lecture about ‘Statutory Interpretation and the Devolution Statutes’ by Aileen McHarg, Joint General Editor of Public Law, and on 21 May, Andrew Le Sueur FRSA will be speaking about ‘Transplanting UK statutory models to smaller jurisdictions’. On 12 June, Ruth Fox from the Hansard Society will be speaking to the Society, and on 26 November there will be the annual Renton Lecture. All SLS lectures are at 18:00, in the Moot Room at UCL Bentham House and can also be attended online. Nonmembers can attend in person (with a glass of wine at the end) or on Zoom for £8. Attendance for members is free. Full details are on the website (www.
statutelawsociety.co.uk).
The Annual Inns of Court Selden Society History Lecture 2026
This year’s lecture will be delivered by the Rt.Hon.Lord Burnett of Maldon, former Lord Chief Justice, in the Hall at Inner Temple on Tuesday, 29 October at 6 pm. The chosen subject is the very hot topic of ‘Juries’. More details will be posted in the next edition of GRAYA NEWS but the pressure for tickets is likely to be considerable, so you may wish to keep an eye on the Inner Temple website.
The Need to ‘De-Clutter’
Every year brings an important anniversary in the nation’s biography of great men and women. This year is notable not only for Bacon’s death but the centenary in April of the birth of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Last December, we celebrated the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen though the celebrations spanned the whole year. When Rev. George Austen, Jane’s father, retired from his living at the Rectory at Steventon in 1800, the move to Bath required him to sell his impressive library numbering over 500 books. That was largely occasioned by the need to raise money to supplement his income in retirement. The family were ‘downsizing’ too. This came as a great shock to Jane as the library had done much to inspire her early love of writing.
Nearly two centuries earlier in about 1613 Shakespeare retired to Stratford. Three years later he was dead. Ever since scholars have expressed incredulity that the great writer appears to have left no trace on his death of owning any books. No book collection was left in his will. Is this so surprising? As we all become older, there is the pressing need to ‘de-clutter’ and ensure those who have the task of winding up our Estate are not over-burdened. There is an overwhelming human desire to give as little trouble as possible to them and the grieving family left behind. Might that not have been Shakespeare’s attitude too? You may be the world’s greatest dramatist but you have the same concerns and emotions as the rest of the human race.
There is an alternative explanation. On leaving London for the last time, was it likely that the thrifty Shakespeare would want the expense of transporting his books up to Stratford (where they were hardly likely to be dusted down again) rather than make them a gift to his two actor friends at the Globe, John Heminges and Henry Condell, subsequently the Editors of Shakespeare’s first folio? Surely they would have had more use of them?
History Society
The remaining History Society lectures for this year take place in the Michaelmas Term and provide an exciting contrast.
On Thursday 24 September the guest speaker is the distinguished scholar and historian Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch FSA, FRHistS, FBA, formerly Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford, now Professor Emeritus. He has been garlanded with many awards for his work including the James Tait Black Prize and the Wolfson Award for History. He is regarded as the country’s leading authority on Thomas Cromwell following his magnificent biography of the Tudor statesman published in 2018.
Professor MacCulloch’s lecture is entitled ‘Thomas Cromwell: Architect of a Protestant Empire’ and will take place in the Bingham Room as usual at 5.45 pm. The evening coincides with a Guest Night at the Inn and will conclude before 7 pm in sufficient time for everyone to attend the Guest Night Dinner that evening.
On Thursday 12 November the History Society welcomes as guest speaker His Hon. Peter Hughes KC, PhD, Bencher of the Inn who until his retirement served as a notable Circuit Judge on the Northern Circuit. Prior to 2024 Master Hughes was Chairman of the Board of the Gardens Trust. His lecture is entitled ‘Of Gardens: the purest of human pleasures’, a famous quote from Bacon. In the lecture Master Hughes will explore the creation of the Walks by Bacon and other themes as part of the celebration of the Bacon quarter-centenary.
Again, the evening will coincide with a Guest Night at the Inn and the lecture will take place in the Bingham Room at 5-45 pm, concluding safely before the Guest Night Dinner begins for those attending that event.
The lectures are open to all members of the Inn and two guests. The History Society lectures are FREE with booking via the Gray’s Inn Online System (GIOS).
Senior Librarian
Claire Mazer has recently joined the Inn as Senior Librarian. A professionally qualified librarian with over 30 years’ experience in UK higher education, including senior and subject librarian roles at Brunel University London and BPP Law School, she brings extensive expertise in legal research, library management, and academic support. In her current role, she oversees the Library’s day-to-day operations and systems, manages collections, trains staff, and provides one-to-one guidance to GDL and Bar students. She also delivers practical legal research sessions, and maintains a keen interest in the evolving impact of AI on legal education. Claire has a collegiate, adaptable, and thoughtful approach, and combines professional rigour with a supportive style that advances both scholarship and practical skills within the Inn.
Explore more from this edition
Ena Collymore-Woodstock – A Remarkable Life
Ena Collymore‑Woodstock, Jamaican barrister, magistrate, war veteran and a tireless pioneer for women, died aged 108, leaving an extraordinary legacy of justice, courage and service spanning a century.
History Society Lecture
A dazzling royal favourite rises and falls: Lucy Hughes‑Hallett FRSL reveals how George Villiers, first Duke of Buckingham, became both powerbroker and pariah – loved by kings, blamed by a nation, and immortalised as history’s scapegoat.
Book Reviews
Two compelling books – one exploring justice by an experienced judge in the Old Bailey with a focus on women and girls, the other, and exploration of law and science through a biography of pioneering British physicist and astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell.
Notices
Key announcements including New Benchers, New Silks, recent deaths and Notices from Pension.
