SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
JAMES HUMPHREYS ESQRE
LATE OF LINCOLNS INN, BARRISTER AT LAW
WHO WAS BORN SEPTEMBER THE 10TH 1768,
AND DIED NOVEMBER THE 29TH 1830.
ALIKE DISTINGUISHED BY THE INTEGRITY OF HIS HEART
THE SOUNDNESS OF HIS PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE
AND THE ARDOUR OF HIS ATTACHMENT TO THE
PRINCIPLES OF CONSTITUTIONAL FREEDOM
HE DEVOTED THE WHOLE FORCE OF HIS VIGOROUS INTELLECT
TO THE GREAT CAUSE OF LEGAL REFORM
WITH WHICH HIS NAME WILL EVER REMAIN IDENTIFIED
AS ONE OF ITS FIRST AND ABLEST ADVOCATES.
JAMES HUMPHREYS ESQRE
LATE OF LINCOLNS INN, BARRISTER AT LAW
WHO WAS BORN SEPTEMBER THE 10TH 1768,
AND DIED NOVEMBER THE 29TH 1830.
ALIKE DISTINGUISHED BY THE INTEGRITY OF HIS HEART
THE SOUNDNESS OF HIS PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE
AND THE ARDOUR OF HIS ATTACHMENT TO THE
PRINCIPLES OF CONSTITUTIONAL FREEDOM
HE DEVOTED THE WHOLE FORCE OF HIS VIGOROUS INTELLECT
TO THE GREAT CAUSE OF LEGAL REFORM
WITH WHICH HIS NAME WILL EVER REMAIN IDENTIFIED
AS ONE OF ITS FIRST AND ABLEST ADVOCATES.
James Humphreys was a Welsh barrister, law reformer and legal writer. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and called to the bar in 1800 at Lincoln's Inn. Politically he was a Liberal. His major publication in the field of law reform was 'Observations on the Actual State of the English Laws of Real Property, with the outlines of a Code' (1826). This was a critical survey of property law in a climate where law reform was on the agenda. He suggested codification of land law but this was viewed with some controversy because his suggestion that powers for tenants for life under a strict settlement (which happened 50 years later) appeared to threaten the landed estates upon which the aristocracy based its influence.
James Humpreys was Lord of the Manor of West Ham from 1805 until his death. He was the uncle of Thomas Humphreys, also Lord of the Manor of West Ham, who donated part of the land on which St. John's stands.
James Humpreys was Lord of the Manor of West Ham from 1805 until his death. He was the uncle of Thomas Humphreys, also Lord of the Manor of West Ham, who donated part of the land on which St. John's stands.
If you have any further information regarding this memorial, or the people named on it, we would be most grateful for a copy of it.