
Oliver Cornish
Sale Coordinator for Furniture, Sculpture, Rugs & Tapestries
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Sold for £768 inc. premium
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Sale Coordinator for Furniture, Sculpture, Rugs & Tapestries
Provenance
Property of Gavin Turnbull Simons, Viscount Simonds, thence the vendor by descent.
Gavin Simonds (1881-1971) came from a distinguished American-rooted family and was raised in Reading, England. A gifted student, he won scholarships to Winchester College and New College, Oxford. After serving in the Royal Berkshire Regiment during World War I, he returned to law and became a successful barrister, earning King's Counsel status in 1924.
Simonds was appointed High Court judge in 1937 and Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 1944, bypassing the Court of Appeal. During WWII, he led the National Arbitration Tribunal, resolving industrial disputes. In 1951, Winston Churchill appointed him Lord Chancellor, a position he held with distinction, overseeing the 1953 Coronation and receiving several honours, including a hereditary peerage.
In later years, Viscount Simonds returned to judicial and scholarly work, editing Halsbury's Laws of England. Despite declining health, he remained active until retiring in 1962. A lover of the countryside, he enjoyed fishing and shooting, and is remembered for his legal excellence, public service, and dedication to Winchester and the British judiciary.
The National Portrait Gallery hold a photographic portrait of Gavin Simonds by the Society and fashion photograph Cecil Beaton taken for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.