Adair Roche, Baron Roche

Alexander Adair Roche, Baron Roche PC (24 July 1871 – 22 December 1956) was a British barrister and law lord.

Early life and education Born in Ipswich, Adair Roche was the second son of William Brock Roche (died 1925), a doctor, and his wife Mary Roche, née Fraser (died 1928), daughter of William Fraser. Roche was educated at Ipswich School and Wadham College, Oxford, where he was a classical scholar. He obtained first-class honours in both the honour moderations (1892) and in literae humaniores (1894), graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1894 and a Master of Arts in 1913. He served as chairman of the Oxfordshire Quarter Sessions from 1932 and held the same post in the Central Agricultural Wages Board from 1940.

In 1934, Roche was made a Lord Justice of Appeal and was sworn of the Privy Council. Roche resigned in 1938 and a year thereafter he became Treasurer of the Inner Temple. in 1944 to the Home Secretary Herbert Morrison, recommending setting up Magistrates' Courts Committees and other reforms. This formed the basis of the Justices of the Peace Act 1949, introduced by Morrison's successor, James Chuter Ede.

Family On 22 March 1902, he married Elfreda Gabriel, third daughter of John Fenwick and had by her two sons and a daughter.