 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
grandsons of these judges are for the most part too young to have achieved
distinction. 22 out of 226 gives 10 in 100 as the percentage of the judges
that have had distinguished sons. (The reader will remark how near this
result is to the 9.5 as entered in my table, showing the general truth of both
estimates.) Of these 22 I count the following triplets. The Atkyns family as
two. It is true that the grandfather was only Chief Justice of North Wales,
and not an English judge, but the vigour of the blood is proved by the line of
not only his son and two grandsons being English judges, but also by the
grandson of one of them, through the female line, being an English judge
also. Another line is that of the Pratts, viz. the Chief Justice and his son, the
Lord Chancellor, Earl Camden, and his grandson, the son of the Earl,
created the Marquis Camden; the latter was Chancellor of the University of
Cambridge, and a man of note in many ways. Another case is in the Yorke
line, for the son of the Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Hardwicke, was
Charles Yorke, himself a Lord Chancellor. His sons were able men: one
became First Lord of the Admiralty, another was Bishop of Ely, a third was
a military officer of distinction and created Baron Dover, a fourth was an
admiral of distinction. I will not count all these, but will reckon them as
three favourable instances. The total, thus far, is six; to which might be
added in fairness something from that most remarkable Montagu family and
its connexions, of which several judges, both before and after the accession
of Charles I., were members. However, I wish to be well within bounds,
and therefore will claim only six successes out of the 22 cases (I allow one
son to each judge, as before), or I in 4. Even under these limitations it is
only 4 to I, on the average, against each child of an eminent son of a judge
becoming a distinguished man.
 |
|
 |
|