Horace Avory

Sir Horace Edmund Avory (August 31, 1851 – June 13, 1935) was an English criminal lawyer, jurist and Privy Counsellor.

He was the son of Henry Avory, clerk of the Central Criminal Court. He was educated at King's College London, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he was captain of boats and took the degree of LL.B. in 1874. He became a barrister of the Inner Temple in 1875 and married Maria Louisa Castle in 1877. He was elected Bencher in 1908 and was knighted and made a judge, later to become a senior judge, of the King's Bench division in 1910. He received a Hon.D.LL. degree in 1911 and was made Treasurer in 1929. He died at Rye, East Sussex.

Avory was one of the most noted English criminal lawyers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was involved in many sensational trials and became a household word as the most dreaded "hanging judge" of his age. He was called "thin lipped, cold, utterly unemotional, silent, and humorless, and relentless towards lying witnesses and brutal criminals" and "impervious to bluff and merciless to perjury". In private life, however, he showed a different face.

Famous cases in which he appeared include the trials of Adoph Beck, Sir Roger Casement, Oscar Wilde, Pierre Vaquier, Patrick Mahon and Clarence Hatry.

In recognition of his achievements, both Corpus Christi College (Cambridge), and The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, have student scholarships in the name of Horace Avory.

Sources

* Gordon Lang, "Mr Justice Avory" (1935)
* B. O’Donnell, "The Trials of Mr Justice Avory" (1935) ("It was written and published without my permission or communication with me.")

* Eric R. Watson, "The Trial of Adolf Beck" (William Hodge and company, Notable British Trials series, 1924)