Alan King-Hamilton
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His Honour Alan King-Hamilton QC |
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|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
9 December 1904 West Hampstead, London |
| Died | 23 March 2010 (aged 105) |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse(s) | Rosalind Irene Ellis (m. 1935–1991) |
| Alma mater | Trinity Hall, Cambridge |
Myer Alan Barry King-Hamilton QC (9 December 1904 – 23 March 2010) was a British barrister and judge who was best known for hearing numerous high-profile cases at the Old Bailey during the 1960s and 1970s. These included the trial of Janie Jones in 1974 and the 1977 blasphemous libel trial against Gay News and its editor, Denis Lemon, for publishing "The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name", a poem by James Kirkup.
King-Hamilton was born Myer Alan Barry Harris in West Hampstead, London on 9 December 1904, the youngest child and only son of solicitor Alfred King-Hamilton (né Harris) (1871-1959) and Constance Clyde Druiff (1877-1963). His father changed the family surname to King-Hamilton in 1916. King-Hamilton attended York House prep school and briefly The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, but completed his schooling at Bishop's Stortford College. He read law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, receiving a third-class BA degree in 1927. He later commented that "it is not essential or even important to get a First, or even a Second, to succeed at the Bar." Hamilton took his MA in 1929, the same year in which he was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple.
In 1935, he married Rosalind Irene Ellis (1906–1991), with whom he had two daughters. During his first few years at the Bar, King-Hamilton specialised in road traffic law before branching out into other areas.
In 1939 King-Hamilton became a censor with the Ministry of Information and by 1945 had achieved the rank of squadron leader in Royal Air Force Intelligence. Upon demobilization he returned to his legal career.
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