Alan Stewart Orr

Sir Alan Stewart Orr, (21 February 1911 – 3 April 1991) was a British barrister specialising in taxation who rose to be a High Court judge and a Lord Justice of Appeal. After 1958 he was known as Alan Orr QC, from 1965 as Mr Justice Orr, and from 1971 as Lord Justice Orr.

During the Second World War, Orr served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, became a wing commander, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his wartime service.

Early life and education Orr was born on 21 February 1911 to William Orr and Doris Kemsley, of Great Wakering, Essex, and was a grandson of the Rev. Robert Workman Orr, a United Free Church minister of Brechin. He was born in Rochford, Essex, and raised in Scotland. On 24 July 1940, he was regraded to pilot officer on probation. He was promoted to the war substantive rank of flying officer on 1 June 1941, and had his commission confirmed. He was promoted to temporary flight lieutenant on 1 September 1942, and to war substantive flight lieutenant on 23 October 1942. In the 1944 King's Birthday Honours, Acting Wing Commander Orr was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He was promoted to war substantive squadron leader on 15 November 1944. In the 1946 New Year Honours, it was published that he had been mentioned in despatches. On 21 February 1956, having spent a number of years in the inactive reserves, he relinquished his commission and was allowed to retain the rank of wing commander.

Legal career After graduating from Oxford, Orr joined the Middle Temple to train as a barrister. He was called to the English bar in July 1936.

Orr was a barrister in the chambers of Sir Wintringham Stable at 2, Crown Office Row, which in the 1970s moved premises and became known as Fountain Court Chambers. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he started to build the chambers' reputation for commercial litigation, together with Leslie Scarman QC and Melford Stevenson QC, supported by a notable clerk, Cyril Batchelor. He was a member of the General Council of the Bar from 1953 to 1957. Well known as a "tax devil", Orr was raised to Queen's Counsel in 1958, and the same year was appointed as Recorder of New Windsor, a part-time judicial role.

By 1962, he had become head of his chambers. In April 1963, he was the Guest of Honour at the annual dinner of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. In August 1964 he became a deputy chairman of the Oxfordshire Quarter Sessions.

In 1965 Orr was appointed as a High Court judge, joining the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division, which was unusual, as he had only rarely appeared in it as a counsel. In 1967 he was elected as a Master of the Bench of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple.

On 20 April 1971, together with Sir John Stephenson, Orr was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal. On the same day, Sir John Passmore Widgery was created Lord Widgery and became Lord Chief Justice. Judge Alfred Hollings QC was appointed to replace Orr in the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court, and Orr was also named as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom.

In October 1966, the spy George Blake escaped from HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs and fled from Great Britain to the Soviet Union, and a month later his wife, with whom he had three children, began divorce proceedings against him. In the High Court in March 1967, Orr granted her a decree nisi in Blake's absence, on the grounds that the conviction of a spouse for treason can amount to cruelty or constructive desertion, and also awarded the custody of the couple's three sons to Mrs Blake.

On 17 December 1968, Orr granted the actress Britt Ekland a decree nisi for divorce on the grounds of cruelty by Peter Sellers, who did not contest the proceedings.

Private life In 1933, Orr married Mariana Frances Lilian, a daughter of Captain J. C. Lang, King's Own Scottish Borderers. In 1973 they were reported to be living at Highfield, Harmer Green, Welwyn, Hertfordshire. They had four sons James, Gavin, Mark, and Giles, and Lady Orr died in February 1986.

Orr was a member of the Oxford and Cambridge Club.

Portraits of Orr by Walter Bird and Rex Coleman of Baron Studios are in the National Portrait Gallery.