George Drewry Squibb

George Drewry Squibb (1 December 1906 – 3 January 1994) was an English lawyer, herald and antiquary who is most noted for his participation in the celebrated 1954 case of Manchester Corporation v Manchester Palace of Varieties Ltd in the High Court of Chivalry, the first (and to date only) case heard by that court for over two hundred years.

In his opening arguments in that case, Squibb, who was simultaneously a distinguished barrister and a historian, argued, to the satisfaction of the court, that since the modern class of Doctors of Laws were no longer trained as advocates, their role must necessarily be performed by barristers. This was because Victorian reforms, which had unified the other classes of court attorney into the single profession of Barrister, had overlooked the Doctors of Law.

Birth, family and education He was born in Chester on 1 December 1906, the eldest son of Reginald Augustus Hodder Squibb, He was related to Arthur Squibb, who was Clarenceux King of Arms at the College of Arms 1646-1650 (in the time of Cromwell).

He was Junior Counsel to the Crown in Peerage and Baronetcy Cases, 1954–56, but this ceased upon his appointment to silk. He was appointed Honorary Historical Adviser in Peerage Cases to the Attorney-General in 1965.

His work among the records of the College of Arms made him liked and respected by the Officers of Arms, and particularly by Anthony Wagner, who valued his combination of legal and historical research skills, and who wrote a Foreword to The Law of Arms in England. In 1959 he was appointed Norfolk Herald Extraordinary, and in 1976 he became the Earl Marshal's Lieutenant, Assessor and Surrogate in the Court of Chivalry.

He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1946; a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists in 1973; and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1978.

He was a member of the Worshipful Company of Scriveners, and served as Master 1979–80.

He was appointed Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO), an honour in the personal gift of the Queen, in 1982.

Personal life In 1936 he married Bessie Whittaker, who died in 1954. With her, he had one daughter. In 1955, he married Evelyn Higgins, who died in 1992.

He died in Dorchester on 3 January 1994.