James Burge

Charles George James Burge QC, (8 October 1906 – 6 September 1990) was an English criminal law barrister, remembered for his defence of Stephen Ward in the Profumo affair in 1963. He is also remembered as John Mortimer's original inspiration for the fictional barrister Horace Rumpole in Rumpole of the Bailey.

The son of George Burge, later of Masterton, New Zealand and stepson of Maude Burge, Burge was educated at Cheltenham College, then at Christ's College, Cambridge as an undergraduate commoner. He was called to the Bar from the Inner Temple in 1932. He practised in the chambers of R. E. Seaton, Q.C., an established "criminal set" in Queen Elizabeth Building, Temple, London. He succeeded Seaton as Prosecuting Counsel to the Post Office at the Central Criminal Court in 1943. During the Second World War, Burge reached the rank of squadron leader in the R.A.F. he was made a bencher of the Inner Temple in 1971, and served as a recorder from 1972 to 1975.

Author and fellow barrister John Mortimer stated on several occasions that there were elements of Burge, especially Burge's independence and total dedication to often unprepossessing clients, that he incorporated into the famous fictional character Rumpole of the Bailey. Mortimer's 2009 obituary in The Daily Telegraph confirmed that Rumpole was, in part, based on a chance meeting in court with James Burge:

He died at age 83, on 6 September 1990 and was cremated in Xàbia, Spain. He had married Elizabeth, daughter of Commander Scott Williams, R.N., of Dorset, in 1938; they had two sons and a daughter.