WALKER OF GESTINGTHORPE, Rt Hon Lord PC (1938-2023)
colinp
David Beamish
WALKER Robert, Baron Walker of Gestingthorpe, died peacefully on 16th November 2023, aged 85. Greatly loved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. Former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Funeral to be announced, with a memorial service at a later date. Family flowers only. Donations to Arthur Rank Hospice Charity. All inquiries to Peasgood & Skeates, 01799 523314, or enquiries@peasgoodandskeates. co.uk
Richard R
Obit in the Times of 20 Dec 2023:
Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe obituary
Reserved but intellectually rigorous justice of the Supreme Court who ruled in a controversial case about conjoined twins
If the Chancery Bar is regarded by those outside it as highly intellectual but dry as dust, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe was the epitome of a Chancery practitioner.
The former Supreme Court justice stood out even within those high-flown ranks as a rigorous and analytical lawyer and judge, acknowledged as the doyen of tax and trusts specialists who rose with almost record rapidity to the High Court and beyond, serving as a law lord and Supreme Court justice for eleven years.
Though he was kind and humane, his demeanour in court was nonetheless reserved, almost taciturn; while out of court he seemed shy, even aloof. “He could be curt or friendly and talkative — you never knew what you were going to get,” a colleague said. In court he might say nothing throughout the hearing until it was 1pm or 4pm, when he would say: “Is this a convenient moment [to rise]?”
… Walker’s rise was swift: he was appointed a High Court judge in 1994 and three years later was promoted to the Court of Appeal on the recommendation of the lord chancellor Lord Irvine of Lairg. Lairg had been strongly impressed when, as counsel, he appeared before Walker in a case — and then took soundings from a leading silk who endorsed Irvine’s view. Walker was promoted over ten more senior judges.
Robert Walker was born in 1938, the son of Ronald, a conveyancing lawyer, and Mary. Brought up a Roman Catholic, he went to Downside School in Somerset then read classics and law at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree.
… He retired from the Supreme Court in 2013 and sat until 2021 as a crossbencher in the House of Lords, chairing its committee on the HS2 bill in 2016, among other things.
Walker married Suzanne Leggi in 1962 with whom he had three daughters and a son, all of whom survive him.
… Despite his achievements, Walker remained modest and unassuming. When he retired from the Supreme Court, he spoke of his gratitude and “some surprise” at having reached the top of the judicial ladder, adding that except for a small number of judicial superstars “there is a huge amount of fortune or luck … in who gets promotion and who does not”.
Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Supreme Court justice, was born on March 17, 1938. He died on November 16, 2023, aged 85
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lord-walker-of-gestingthorpe-obituary-28ctmxbqp