The Eldon Law Scholarship is a scholarship awarded to students from the University of Oxford who wish to study for the English Bar. Applicants must either have obtained a first class honours degree in the Final Honours School, or obtained a distinction on the BCL or MJur. It is a two-year scholarship presently funded at £9,000 a year.
History
The scholarship dates from 12 May 1830, and was funded in response to an application from subscribers. Although the scholarship is named after Lord Eldon LC, it is not funded from his will – Lord Eldon did not in fact die until eight years after the scholarship was founded. The first trustees included the Duke of Richmond, Earl of Mansfield, Earl of Romney and Lord Arden.
Until 1963 it was a requirement that an applicant be a member of the Church of England. In 1963 that was downgraded to a preference, and in 1983 the requirement was dropped entirely.
Past winners
Past winners include: Herman Merivale (1831), civil servant and historian Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne (1834), Lord Chancellor Arthur Kensington (1837), Fellow of Trinity Thomas Henry Haddan (1840), founder of The Guardian Edward Karslake (1843), barrister and politician Ralph Lingen, 1st Baron Lingen (1846), civil servant. John Conington (1849), classical scholar (who gave up the scholarship) Sir George Osborne Morgan (1851), barrister and politician. Sir Robert Herbert (1854), first Premier of Queensland, Australia Montague Hughes Cookson (later Crackanthorpe), KC (1856), Fellow of St John's Horace Davey, Baron Davey (1859), Law Lord Sir Henry Alexander Giffard (1861), barrister and Bailiff of Guernsey John Mott Maidlow (1864), barrister Sir Courtenay Ilbert (1867), lawyer and civil servant Alfred Barratt (1870), philosopher John Gent (1872), Fellow of Trinity Arthur Godley, 1st Baron Kilbracken (1874), civil servant James Eastwick (1876), barrister and legal scholar Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner (1878), politician and colonial administrator Charles Ashworth James (1881), barrister and fellow of Hertford Albert Thomas Carter (1884) Francis William Pember (1887), lawyer and academic, vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford George Russell Northcote (1888), barrister Sir Frederick Liddell, KC (1892), civil servant. Alfred Hazel Murray Coutts-Trotter, Chief Justice of Madras High Court Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland (1899), politician Raymond Asquith (1902), barrister Sir John Behan (1906), lawyer and educationist Patrick Shaw-Stewart, banker and war poet Lord Asquith of Bishopstone (1913), Law Lord Professor Sir Carleton Allen (1913), law professor and Warden of Rhodes House Sir Geoffrey Faber (1920), academic and publisher Gordon Alchin (1920), poet. Sir Eric Beckett (1921), legal adviser to the Foreign Office Lord Denning (1921), Law Lord and Master of the Rolls Cyril Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe (1923), Law Lord Sir John Foster (1924), politician, army officer and legal scholar Sir John Blagden (1924) Richard Wilberforce, Baron Wilberforce (1930), Law Lord. Ivor Ian Bowen (1930), lawyer and economist J.H.C. Morris (1933), academic Sir James Fawcett (1935), President of the European Commission for Human Rights Sir Thomas Smith, QC (1937), barrister and academic Robert Blake, Baron Blake (1938), historian Sir Wilfrid Bourne (1948), Permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Office Sir Richard Blackburn (1949), Australian judge Sir Christopher Slade (1950), Lord Justice of Appeal. Edward Nugee, QC (1953), barrister Lord Bingham (1957), Law Lord and Master of the Rolls Sir Christopher Rose (1959), Lord Justice of Appeal Richard Mawrey, KC (1964), barrister Sir David Keene (1965), Lord Justice of Appeal Nicholas Wilson, Lord Wilson of Culworth (1967), Supreme Court judge Sir James Munby (1970), President of the Family Division. Dame Sonia Proudman (1973), High Court judge. Sir Stephen Tomlinson (1974), Lord Justice of Appeal Gabriel Moss KC (1975), barrister. Nicholas Hamblen, Lord Hamblen of Kersey (1982), Justice of the UK Supreme Court Sir Christopher Nugee (1984), High Court judge. Lord Sales, Philip Sales (1986) Justice of the UK Supreme Court. Sir Christopher Butcher (1987), High Court judge. Laurence Rabinowitz, KC (1988), barrister Sir David Foxton (1989), High Court judge. Dame Sara Cockerill (1990), High Court judge and Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court. Sir Martin Chamberlain (1997), High Court judge. Andrew Scott, KC (2009), barrister Frederick Wilmot-Smith (2018), barrister