Part of Gray's Inn Square  
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known simply as Gray's Inn , is one of the four Inns of Court  in London. To be called to the Bar  and practise as a barrister  in England and Wales , an individual must belong to one of these Inns. The Inn has existed for over 600 years. Its members have included many noted lawyers and judges, such as Francis Bacon ,[ 1]   Lord Slynn , Lord Bingham of Cornhill , Lord Hoffmann , Lord Pannick  and others. Outside the Bar and judiciary of England and Wales, members have included the clergy (including five Archbishops of Canterbury ),[ 2]   the industrialist John Wynne , the astronomer John Lee , media figures, such as  Huw Thomas ,[ 3]   and members of the Bar and judiciary of other nations, such as Yang Ti-liang  (former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong ) and Aitzaz Ahsan  (former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan ).[ 4] [ 5]   As well as full members, the Inn also offers honorary membership to particularly distinguished members of society. During the Second World War , for example, both Franklin D. Roosevelt  and Winston Churchill  became honorary Benchers , and therefore members.[ 6]   Other than honorary members, this list only contains those individuals who were called to the Bar, not those who simply joined but left before qualifying.
 
Lawyers 
Call 
 
Name
 
Noted for
 
Notes
  
1540 
Nicholas Barham  
Serjeant-at-Law  who investigated and prosecuted the Ridolfi plot  
[ 7]  
 
1583 
Thomas Ashe  
legal writer and qualified barrister , although he never practised the law 
[ 8]  
 
1585 
Henry Finch  
legal writer 
[ 9]  
 
1674 
William Atwood  
Lawyer and writer 
[ 10]  
 
1792 
John Bell  
Considered the best equity barrister of his age, even though he could "neither read, write, walk, nor talk" 
[ 11]  
 
1922 
B. R. Ambedkar  
Indian polymath, jurist, economist, politician and social reformer and the father of the Indian Constitution  
[ 12]  
 
1937 
Jack Hamson  
legal writer and jurist of comparative and common law, President of the International Academy of Comparative Law  
[ 13]  
 
1940
 
V.T.
Thomas
 
Indian advocate, jurist and philanthropist.
 
  
1959 
Christopher Bathurst  
English barrister with a successful practice who became a Queen's Counsel  in 1978 before inheriting a hereditary peerage and joining the House of Lords  
[ 14]  
 
1961 
Samuel Eson Johnson Ecoma  
former Chief Judge of Cross River State, Nigeria. 
  
1967 
Aitzaz Ahsan  
Pakistani advocate, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan  
[ 4]  
 
1967
 
Michael Mansfield 
 
King's Counsel and head of chambers at Nexus Chambers
 
  
1977
 
Francis Chang-Sam 
 
Seychelles advocate, former Registrar General of Seychelles and Attorney-General of Seychelles. He also headed the secretariat of the Constitution of the Third Republic of Seychelles.
 
  
1980 
Noor Dean  
Fiji Indian lawyer and politician 
[ 15]  
 
1988 
Roger Tan Kor Mee  
Malaysian advocate & solicitor, former member of the Malaysian Bar Council and now a Water Commissioner of Malaysia. 
  
Judiciary 
Politicians 
Call 
 
Name
 
Noted for
 
Notes
  
1355 
Robert Ashton  
Lord Chancellor of Ireland , Lord High Treasurer  
[ 59]  
 
1515 
Robert Aske  
Politician and rebel who led the Pilgrimage of Grace  
[ 60]  
 
1524 
Thomas Cromwell  
Chief minister to King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540 
[ 61]  
 
1533 
Nicholas Bacon  
Lord Keeper of the Great Seal  
[ 62]  
 
1552 
Christopher Yelverton  
Speaker of the House of Commons  
[ 63]  
 
1554 
Thomas Snagge  
Speaker of the British House of Commons and Attorney-General for Ireland  
[ 64]  
 
1560 
John Brograve  
Member of Parliament for Preston , Attorney General of the Duchy of Lancaster  
[ 65]  
 
1565 
Edward Bacon  
Member of Parliament  for Great Yarmouth  and Tavistock  
[ 66]  
 
1582 
Francis Bacon  
Politician and statesman who served as Lord Chancellor  and Attorney General  
[ 67]  
 
1617 
Nathaniel Bacon  
Member of Parliament for Ipswich  
[ 68]  
 
1631 
John Cooke  
Solicitor General 
[ 69]  
 
1644 
Levinus Bennet  
Member of Parliament for Cambridgeshire  
[ 70]  
 
1648 
William Brodrick  
Member of the Sealed Knot , Surveyor General of Ireland, Member of Parliament for Dungarvan  in the Irish House of Commons  
[ 71]  
 
1658 
William Williams  
Solicitor General and Speaker of the House of Commons 
[ 72]  
 
1673 
Thomas Allen  
Lord Mayor of the City of London  
[ 73]  
 
1682 
Alexander Pendarves  
Member of Parliament for Penryn , Saltash , Helston , and Launceston  
[ 74]  
 
1718 
Hugh Williams  
Member of Parliament for Anglesey  
[ 75]  
 
1839 
George Hammond Whalley  
Member of Parliament for Peterborough  
[ 76]  
 
1871 
William Bowen Rowlands  
Member of Parliament for Ceredigion  
  
1885
 
Sidney Webb 
 
Member of Parliament for Seaham , President of the Board of Trade , Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs , Secretary of State for the Colonies , Co-founder London School of Economics 
 
  
1894 
F.E. Smith  
Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for India  
[ 77]  
 
1910 
Khabeeruddin Ahmed  
Member Bengal Legislative Council  
[ 78]  
 
1922 
David Maxwell Fyfe  
Solicitor General, Attorney General, Lord Chancellor and Home Secretary  
[ 44]  
 
1922 
Hartley Shawcross  
Attorney General 
[ 79]  
 
1923 
Grantley Herbert Adams  
Premier of Barbados  
[ 80]  
 
1924 
Ba Maw  
Prime Minister of Burma  
[ 81]  
 
1933 
Leslie Goonewardene  
Sri Lankan independence activist and founder of the nation's first political party, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party . Also served in cabinet post. 
[ 82]  
 
1935 
Elwyn Jones  
Attorney General, Lord Chancellor 
[ 44]  
 
1944 
Emrys Roberts  
Member of Parliament for Merioneth  
[ 83]  
 
1948 
Noor Hassanali  
The first Indo-Trinidadian  to hold the office of President of Trinidad and Tobago  and was the first Muslim  Head of State in the Americas  
[ 84]  
 
1950 
Glafcos Clerides  
Fourth President of the Republic of Cyprus 
[ 85]  
 
1954 
Spyros Kyprianou  
Second President of the Republic of Cyprus 
[ 85]  
 
1954 
Tassos Papadopoulos  
Fifth President of the Republic of Cyprus 
[ 85]  
 
1959 
John "Tom" Adams  
Premier of Barbados 
[ 86]  
 
1959 
Lalith Athulathmudali  
Sri Lankan Member of Parliament and Minister of Education  
[ 87]  
 
1974 
Roy Roebuck  
Member of Parliament  
  
1975 
Vera Baird  
Solicitor General for England and Wales  
[ 88]  
 
?
 
Stuart Young 
 
Prime Minister-designate of Trinidad and Tobago 
 
[ 89]  
 
Clergy 
Other 
Honorary members 
See also 
References 
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Further reading