Timeline

Around 1595-1600 the Inn ceased to use the arms of the de Grey family and instead adopted the Griffin as its official badge.  

The King James Bible is an English translation of the Bible for the Church of England, sponsored by King James VI. Of the 47 scholars involved with work on the King James Bible, 8 were connected to the Inn. 

Members John Bradshaw (1602-59; Called 1627) and John Cooke or Cook (1608-60; Called 1631) were the judge (President of the High Court of Justice) and prosecutor respectively at the trial of Charles I in 1649. 

Sir John Holt (1642-1710; Called 1663) sat as Lord Chief Justice from 1689. In a time when the legal system was notoriously corrupt and inefficient, Holt was famous for his enormous integrity and fairness in judgment. He was particularly influential in ending the prosecution of witches. 

Samuel Romilly (1757-1818; Called 1783) was one of the most distinguished Inn Members of the turn of the 18th century, Romilly’s reforming efforts contributed massively to his reputation. Romilly was also a vocal opponent of the Slave Trade and gave his support to William Wilberforce’s abolition campaign.  

Sir Robert Lush (1807-81; called 1840; Treasurer 1860) was one of the few prominent Members of the Inn of the 19th century. He was known in his day for his unassuming character, sharp intellect, clarity of expression and complete lack of interest in politics.

His son Sir (Charles) Montague Lush (1853-1930) was also a distinguished Member of the Inn.

Robert Lush is now particularly remembered now as one of the judges in the Tichborne Case of 1873-74. The eccentric Dr Kenealy, the claimant’s defence counsel, who by the end of the trial was disgraced and shortly afterwards disbarred, was also until then a Bencher of the Inn.

After much campaigning and the introduction of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act in 1919 allowed women to be admitted to the Inns of Court. On 27 January 1920, Mary Selina Share Jones became the first woman admitted to Gray’s Inn. Edith Hesling went on to be the first woman Called to the Bar at Gray’s on 13 June 1923. 

Dr B. R. Ambedkar (Called: 1922) was a crusader for social justice and the chief architect of India’s Constitution which secured social and fundamental legal rights and equality for its citizens. A Barrister, economist, politician and reformer, he was the first Law and Justice Minister of independent India. 

Frances Claudia Wright (Called: 1941) was the first Sierra Leonean woman to be Called to the Bar in 1941. She was also the first Black woman Called by Gray’s Inn and the second Black woman to be Called to the Bar of England and Wales. 

Essi Matilda Christian (Called: 1945) was the third Black woman called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1945, and the first Ghanaian female lawyer.  Christian, later Mrs Forster, was the daughter of George James Christian (Called 1902), an early Black barrister of Gray’s Inn. 

Called to the Bar in 1955 and an eminent champion of family law, Dame Joyanne Bracewell was the High Court judge responsible for drafting, and then overseeing the implementation of the Children Act, a significant piece of reforming legislation. 

Called to the Inn in 1956, Benedicto Kiwanuka was the first Chief Justice of Uganda who was a native Ugandan. He also went on to become the first Prime Minister of Uganda (while it was not yet fully independent). 

Lord Bingham was Called to the Bar in 1959, he went on to hold the roles of: Master of the Rolls 1992-96, Lord Chief Justice 1996-2000 and President of the Supreme Court 1996-2010. A champion of judicial independence and the Rule of Law and heralded as one of the greatest lawyers of our time.  

John Anthony Roberts originally joined the RAF where he qualified as an accountant before plying his trade in Law. Called to the Bar in 1969, was one of the first Black barristers to become a QC at the Bar of England and Wales in 1988. 

Educated at a state school in Yorkshire, Brenda Hale joined Gray’s Inn and was Called to the Bar in 1969. She was later appointed Professor of Law at Manchester in 1986, to Queen’s Counsel in 1989, and Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and Baroness Hale of Richmond in 2004. Later in 2017, Lady Hale became the first woman President of the Supreme Court. 

Lord Thomas was Called to the Bar in 1969 and appointed Queen’s Council in 1984. He later went on to become President of the Queen’s Bench Division and Lord Chief Justice. Sir John Thomas was the most senior judge on the three-man panel that in 2016 ruled the Government could not trigger Article 50 without the authority of Parliament.  

Sir Terence Etherton (Called: 1974) is the Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice, the second most senior judge in England and Wales. Etherton is also Britain’s first openly gay senior judge, he has been praised for “enlightened thinking” on many sensitive and vital areas of the Law. 

Called in 1976, Dame Davis specialises in medical cases, including the Bristol Heart Surgeons Inquiry in 1998, Dame Nicola Davies was appointed High Court judge in 2010, Court of Appeal judge in 2018 and was the first Welsh woman judge in the Court of Appeal. 

Dame Linda Dobbs, Called in 1981 and a Bencher of the Inn, was the first Black senior judge of England and Wales (High Court Judge 2004-2013).   

Dame Rose Heilbron (Called 1939) was a woman of many first, the first woman to lead a murder case, first woman records, first woman judge to sit in the Old Bailey and the Inn’s first female Treasurer when appointed in 1985. 

The Hon. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb is a judge of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales and the first Asian woman to serve as a High Court judge. 

In 2022, the City of London School opened a junior school at Gray’s Inn. 

In November 2022, King Charles III visited Gray’s Inn where he met students, barristers and Benchers. His Majesty was made a Royal Bencher of the Inn in 1975 and his portrait sits in the Small Pension Room.