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{{morefootnotes|date=September 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2013}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = The Lord Wilberforce
| honorific-suffix = [[Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George|CMG]] [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] [[Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council|PC]]
| image = RichardWilberforce.jpg
| caption =
| order =
| office1 = [[High Court judge (England and Wales)|Justice of the High Court]]
| term_start1 = 9 January 1961
| term_end1 = 1 October 1964
| monarch = [[Elizabeth II]]
| appointer1 =
| predecessor1 = [[Harold Danckwerts|Sir Harold Danckwerts]]
| successor1 = [[Blanshard Stamp|Sir Blanshard Stamp]]
| birth_date = 11 March 1907
| birth_place = [[Jullundur]], [[British India]]
| death_date = 15 February 2003 (aged 95)
| death_place = [[Chelsea, London]]
| nationality = English
| spouse =
| party =
| relations =
| children = 2
| residence =
| alma_mater = [[New College, Oxford]]
| signature =
| office = [[Lord of Appeal in Ordinary]]
| termstart = 1964
| termend = 10 March 1982
| predecessor = [[Patrick Devlin, Baron Devlin|The Lord Devlin]]
| successor = [[John Brightman, Baron Brightman|The Lord Brightman]]
}}
'''Richard Orme Wilberforce, Baron Wilberforce''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|CMG|OBE|PC|sep=,|size=100%}} (11 March 1907 – 15 February 2003) was a British judge. He was a [[Lords of Appeal in Ordinary|Lord of Appeal in Ordinary]] from 1964 to 1982.

==Early life and career==

Born in [[Jalandhar]], [[India]], Richard Wilberforce was the son of [[Samuel Wilberforce (judge)|Samuel Wilberforce]], [[Indian Civil Service (British India)|ICS]], later a judge of the [[Lahore High Court]], and of Katherine Wilberforce, the daughter of [[John Sheepshanks (bishop)|John Sheepshanks]], [[Bishop of Norwich]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB|title=Wilberforce, Richard Orme, Baron Wilberforce|id=89469|last=Neill|first=Patrick|authorlink=Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen}}</ref> His grandfather was [[Reginald Wilberforce]], who helped restore British order in Delhi, after the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]].<ref name="Torrent 2009">{{cite journal |last1=Torrent |first1=Mélanie |title=Crowning the Work of Wilberforce?: The Settlers Descendants' Union and the Challenges of Sierra Leone's Independence |journal=Cahiers Charles V |date=2009 |volume=46 |issue=46 |pages=241–292 |doi=10.3406/cchav.2009.1541 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/cchav_0184-1025_2009_num_46_1_1541 |access-date=25 December 2021 |publisher=Institut d'anglais Charles V, Université Paris VII |location=Paris, France |issn=0184-1025}}</ref>{{rp|260}} His great-grandfather was [[Samuel Wilberforce]], [[Bishop of Winchester]], and his great-great-grandfather was the [[Abolitionism|abolitionist]] [[William Wilberforce]], a connection which had much influence upon him.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Torrent 2009"/>{{Rp|260}}<ref name=Telegraph>{{cite news |title=Obituaries: Lord Wilberforce |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1422358/Lord-Wilberforce.html |access-date=21 July 2019 |work=The Telegraph |date=18 February 2003}}</ref>

Wilberforce spent the first seven years of his life in India, before being sent to England in 1914 on the outbreak of the [[World War I|First World War]]. He attended five [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|preparatory schools]], the last being [[Sandroyd School]].<ref name=":0" /> From Sandroyd he went to [[Winchester College]] in 1920 where Monty Rendall, the headmaster, convinced him to drop Mathematics, in which he excelled, in favour of Classics, in order to broaden his career options.<ref name=":0" /> Wilberforce excelled in his new subject, winning all four top college prizes.<ref name=":0" />

From Winchester Wilberforce entered [[New College, Oxford]], where he was a [[Scholarship|scholar]], obtaining [[British undergraduate degree classification|firsts]] in both [[Classical Moderations]] (1928) and ''[[Literae humaniores]]'' (1930). He won the Craven, Hertford, and Ireland scholarships in Classics, as well as the [[Eldon Law Scholarship]]. In 1932, on his third attempt, Wilberforce was elected a prize fellow of [[All Souls College]]: the two other successful candidates that year were [[Isaiah Berlin]] and [[Patrick Reilly]].<ref name=Telegraph/> Wilberforce remained a fellow of the college until his death seventy years later.<ref name=":0" />

Moving to London, Wilberforce was called to the bar by the [[Middle Temple]] in 1932.<ref name="Telegraph" /> He was the pupil of the renowned Chancery [[Junior barrister|junior]] Wilfred Hunt; a fellow pupil was [[H. L. A. Hart]]. Wilberforce joined the chambers of Andrew Clark (today called Wilberforce Chambers) and practised at the Chancery bar but, lacking family connections, his earnings were meagre, although they began to increase toward the end of the decade.<ref name=":0" />

=== Wartime service ===
Fearing that war was inevitable, Wilberforce joined the Army reserves after [[Munich Agreement|Munich]] in 1938. At the outbreak of the [[World War II|Second World War]] in 1939 Wilberforce volunteered for service in the [[British Army]], though he was advised against it, and was commissioned into the [[Royal Artillery]]. In 1940 he was [[aide-de-camp]] to Major-General [[Bernard Paget]], who led the British expeditionary force during the [[Norwegian Campaign]].

After Norway, Wilberforce held various staff appointments, before being posted to the [[War Office]] where, as a [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|lieutenant colonel]], he was put in charge of Army entertainments. In 1944 he was attached to the [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force]]. In 1945, he drafted the [[German Instrument of Surrender]] which Field Marshal [[Wilhelm Keitel]] and others signed in Berlin on 8 May.

After the German surrender Wilberforce, by then a [[Brigadier (United Kingdom)|brigadier]], headed the British legal section of the [[Allied Control Council]]. In 1946–7 he returned to London to serve as Under-Secretary at the Control Office for Germany and Austria. For his wartime service, Wilberforce was appointed an [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] and received the American [[Bronze Star Medal|Bronze Star]].<ref name=Telegraph/> He retained the rank of honorary brigadier.

While in Berlin, Wilberforce met Yvette Marie Lenoan, a captain in the [[French Army]] and the daughter of Roger Lenoan, a judge of the ''[[Court of Cassation (France)|Cour de Cassation]]'' posted to Berlin: they married in 1947.

=== Return to the bar ===
Wilberforce returned to the bar in 1947 when the Control Office for Germany and Austria was abolished. His old set of chambers had disappeared, forcing him to find new accommodation. His practice was at first very small, and he considered leaving the bar. He acted for [[Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover (1914–1987)|Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover]] to be recognized as a British subject under the [[Sophia Naturalization Act 1705]]. He became a member of the [[General Council of the Bar|Bar Council]] in 1951 and was appointed a [[Queen's Counsel]] in 1954.

He participated in several [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office|Foreign Office]] cases, including [[Corfu Channel case]] and the Norwegian [[Fisheries case]] in the [[International Court of Justice]]. He was also appointed as the British legal member of the [[International Civil Aviation Organization]]. He was appointed a [[Order of St Michael and St George|Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George]] for services in relation to the [[Warsaw Convention]] in 1956.

In the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950 election]], he stood for [[Kingston upon Hull Central (UK Parliament constituency)|Kingston upon Hull Central]] as the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] candidate, in the city formerly represented by his ancestor William Wilberforce, but lost to the incumbent [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] MP [[Mark Hewitson]].<ref name="Telegraph" />

== Judicial career ==
Wilberforce was appointed to the [[High Court of Justice|High Court]] in 1961 and assigned to the [[High Court of Justice|Chancery Division]],<ref name=Telegraph/> receiving the customary [[Knight Bachelor|knighthood]]. On 1 October 1964, after only three years' service, he was elevated to the House of Lords as a [[Lords of Appeal in Ordinary|Lord of Appeal in Ordinary]], and was made a [[life peer]] as '''Baron Wilberforce''', ''of the City and County of [[Kingston-upon-Hull]]'';<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43451 |date=2 October 1964 |page=8292}}</ref> he was also sworn of the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]]. He is the only English judge in recent times to have been appointed to the [[House of Lords]] straight from the [[High Court of Justice|High Court]], without first serving in the [[Court of Appeal]].<ref name=Telegraph/>

Wilberforce served as a law lord for 18 years, during which he heard 465 appeals, often giving the leading judgment. He was the Senior Law Lord from 1975 to his retirement in 1982. His decisions were highly regarded and covered large areas of the law.

He was president of the [[Anti-Slavery International|Anti-Slavery Society]] from 1971.<ref name=Telegraph/>

In the early 1970s he chaired two inquiries. The first was into power workers' pay in 1971, and found in the workers' favour. The second was set up during the [[UK miners' strike (1972)|miners' strike]] of 1972; thanks to Wiberforce's high work rate, it reported within a week, and recommended pay increases of between £4.50 and £6 to miners.<ref name=Telegraph/>

Wilberforce was [[Chancellor (education)|Chancellor]] of the [[University of Hull]] between 1978 and 1994, High Steward of the University of Oxford from 1967 to 1990, Visitor of Wolfson College from 1974 to 1990 and Visitor of Linacre College from 1983 to 1990.

==Famous judgments==
Wilberforce gave many important and prescient judgments, including in the following cases:

=== High Court ===

*''[[Eastham v Newcastle United FC]]'' [1964] Ch 413
*''[[Boardman v Phipps]]'' [1964] 1 WLR 993 — [[duty of loyalty]] and [[conflict of interest]]

=== House of Lords and Privy Council ===

*''[[National Provincial Bank Ltd v Ainsworth]]'' [1965] AC 1175
*''[[Barclays Bank Ltd v Quistclose Investments Ltd]]'' [1970] AC 567
*''[[Boys v Chaplin]]'' [1971] AC 356 — [[conflict of laws]]
*''[[McPhail v Doulton]]'' [1971] AC 424
*''[[Prenn v Simmonds]]'' [1971] 1 WLR 1381
*''British Railways Board v Herrington'' [1972] AC 877
*''[[Ebrahimi v Westbourne Galleries Ltd]]'' [1973] AC 360
*''[[Howard Smith Ltd v Ampol Petroleum Ltd]]'' [1974] AC 821
*''DPP for Northern Ireland v Lynch'' [1975] AC 653 — [[Duress in English law|defence of duress]]
*''[[The Diana Prosperity]]'' [1976] 1 WLR 989 — [[Interpreting contracts in English law|interpretation of contracts]]
*''[[Anns v Merton London Borough Council]]'' [1978] AC 728
*''[[Johnson v Agnew]]'' [1979] 1 All ER 883 — assessment of damages
*''[[Photo Production Ltd v Securicor Transport Ltd]]'' [1980] AC 827
*Midland Bank Trust Co Ltd v Green (No 1) [1980] UKHL 7 (11 December 1980)
*''[[College of Nursing of the United Kingdom v Department of Health and Social Security (1981)]]''
*''[[Williams & Glyn's Bank v Boland]]'' [1981] AC 487 — [[overriding interest]]
*''[[Ramsay v IRC]]'' [1982] AC 300 — the [[Ramsay principle|''Ramsay'' principle]]
*''[[MPC v Caldwell]]'' [1982] AC 341
*''[[Brinkibon Ltd v Stahag Stahl und Stahlwarenhandelsgesellschaft mbH]]'' [1983] 2 AC 34
*''[[McLoughlin v O'Brian]]'' [1983] 1 AC 410 — recovery of damages from [[nervous shock]]
*''[[Frazer v Walker and Radomski]]''
*''[[R v Inland Revenue Commissioners, ex parte National Federation of Self-Employed & Small Business Ltd]]''
{{Expand list|date=August 2008}}

==Publications==
*with Alan Campbell and Neil Elles, ''The Law of Restrictive Practices and Monopolies'' (2nd edn London, Sweet and Maxwell 1966) {{LCCN|66070116}}
*''Law and economics: Being the presidential address of the Rt. Hon. Lord Wilberforce'' (Holdsworth Club 1966)

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|escutcheon = Argent an eagle displayed Sable armed Gules.<ref>{{cite book|title=Middle Temple Armory |author=Baz Manning}}</ref>}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://politics.guardian.co.uk/politicsobituaries/story/0,1441,898286,00.html ''The Guardian'' obituary]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilberforce, Richard}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English judges]]
[[Category:Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford]]
[[Category:People educated at Norwich School]]
[[Category:People educated at Sandroyd School]]
[[Category:People educated at Winchester College]]
[[Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Law lords]] 
[[Category:People associated with the University of Hull]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Chancery Division judges]]
[[Category:Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]]
[[Category:Crossbench life peers]]
[[Category:Senior Lords of Appeal in Ordinary]]
[[Category:Wilberforce family|Richard]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Royal Artillery officers]]
[[Category:Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration]]
[[Category:English King's Counsel]]
[[Category:20th-century King's Counsel]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:British judges of international courts and tribunals]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:British Army brigadiers]]
[[Category:War Office personnel in World War II]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]

Richard Wilberforce, Baron Wilberforce - Revision history

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