Robert Romer
{{Short description|British judge (1840-1918)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Sir Robert Romer
| birth_place = Kilburn, Middlesex, England
| birth_date = 23 December 1840
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1918|3|19|1840|12|23}}
| honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|commas=on|GCB|FRS}}
| office = Lord Justice of Appeal
| office1 = Justice of the High Court
| termstart = 27 February 1899
| termend = 24 October 1906
| termstart1 = 17 November 1890
| termend1 = 27 February 1899
| image = File:Sir Robert Romer 12 December 1891.jpg
| caption = "Bob", Vanity Fair caricature, 1891
| education = St John's School, Leatherhead
| alma_mater = Trinity Hall, Cambridge
| spouse = {{marriage|Betty Lemon|1864}}
| children = 3
| relatives = Mark Romer (son)
Cecil Romer (son)
Charles Romer (grandson)
}}
Sir Robert Romer {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB|PC|FRS}} (23 December 1840 – 19 March 1918) was a British judge. He was a High Court judge (1890–1899), and a Lord Justice of Appeal (1899–1906) when he was known as Lord Justice Romer.
Biography
Romer was born in Kilburn, Middlesex.[https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/35819 Romer, Sir Robert] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography He attended St John's School, Leatherhead (in Surrey) and excelled at mathematics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he was Senior Wrangler in 1863 (the first from Trinity Hall) and was joint winner of Smith's Prize in that year.St John's School, Leatherhead. School Register 1852-1904 Following the premature late 1864 death of George Boole, the first professor of maths at Queen's College, Cork, Romer beat out Robert Ball for the vacant position, however he only stayed in Cork from 1865 to 1866.[https://archive.org/stream/reminiscenceslet00balluoft/reminiscenceslet00balluoft_djvu.txt Reminiscences and Letters of Sir Robert Ball] Edited By W. Vaihntine Ball He became QC in 1881, and a bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1884.[http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2016.pl?sur=&suro=w&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=RMR859R&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50 Robert Romer] ACAD: A Cambridge Alumni Database from 1200 to 1900 The same year he unsuccessfully stood as the Liberal candidate in Brighton.
In 1890 he was appointed High Court judge and assigned to the Chancery Division, receiving the customary knighthood. He served as such until 1899, when he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal, in succession to Chitty. He resigned in 1906. It was said that his resignation had been caused by the conduct of his fellow Lord Justice Sir Roland Vaughan Williams.
Romer was sworn a Privy Councillor in 1899, and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in the same year. He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the New Year Honours list 1 January 1901,{{London Gazette |issue=27264 |date=8 January 1901 |page=157 }} and was invested by King Edward VII in February the same year.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Court Circular |date=14 February 1901 |page=6 |issue=36378}}
He was a member of the Royal Commission on South African Hospitals in 1901, during the Boer War.{{cite journal|title=The Royal Commission on South African Hospitals|pmc=2400194 | pages=236–240 | volume=1|issue=2091|journal=British Medical Journal|doi=10.1136/bmj.1.2091.236|year=1901 }} He was a member of the Royal Commission on University Education in London in 1909.{{cite journal|title=Thomas Carlyle Parkinson, M.D. (Sydney)|pmc=2318341 | page=574 | volume=1|issue=2513|journal=British Medical Journal|doi=10.1136/bmj.1.2513.574|year=1909 }}
Family
In 1864 he married his first cousin Betty Lemon, daughter of his aunt Helen (Nelly) Romer and Mark Lemon, editor of Punch. Their sons were Mark Romer, Baron Romer and Sir Cecil Romer.{{cite news |title= Obituary: Sir Cecil Romer – Hard Fighting in France|work=The Times |date=3 October 1962 |page= 13}} His grandson Sir Charles Robert Romer was also Lord Justice of Appeal.{{cite news |title= Obituary: Sir Charles Romer – Former Lord Justice of Appeal who headed Portland committee|work=The Times |date=17 February 1969|page= 10}} Their daughter Helen Mary married future Lord Chancellor Frederic Maugham.
Arms
{{Infobox COA wide
|escutcheon = Or on a base Vert a man in armour visor raised on the helmet proper a plume Gules Argent and Azure holding in the dexter gauntlet a halbert proper about the waist a sword belt Gules pendant therefrom a sword hilted Or the scabbard Gules garnished Or a crescent in dexter chief for difference Azure.
|crest = Out of a ducal coronet Or a demi man in armour as in the arms.
|motto = AGERE AUT PATI FORTITER ROMANUM EST (To do or be strongly is Roman).{{cite web|title=Lincoln's Inn heraldic panel |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/baz_manning/16714966023/in/album-72157633017171913/ |publisher=Baz Manning |access-date=16 May 2020}}}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{cite EB1922|title=Romer, Sir_Robert |volume=32 |pages=289–290 |short=x|url=https://archive.org/stream/encyclopdiabri32newyrich#page/289/mode/1up}}
- {{acad|ref=none |id=RMR859R|name=Romer, Robert}}
- {{cite ODNB |ref=none |id=35819 |last=MacKinnon |first=Frank Douglas | authorlink=Frank Douglas MacKinnon |first2=Patrick |last2=Polden |year=2004 |title=Romer, Sir Robert (1840–1918) }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Romer, Robert}}
Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Category:Lord justices of appeal
Category:Chancery Division judges
Category:Members of Lincoln's Inn
Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society