Richard Elwes

Sir Richard Everard Augustine Elwes, OBE, TD (28 May 1901 – 4 September 1968) was an English barrister and High Court judge.

Biography Elwes was the fifth son of prominent English tenor Gervase Elwes by his wife Lady Winefride Mary Elizabeth, née Feilding, daughter of Rudolph Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh. Several of his siblings achieved distinction: among his brothers were a monsignor and Simon Elwes, a prominent painter. He grew up at Billing Hall, Northamptonshire. A Roman Catholic, he was educated at The Oratory School and Christ Church, Oxford.

After the war, he returned to the bar, becoming Recorder of Northampton in 1946, a King's Counsel in 1950, and was chairman of quarter sessions of Rutland from 1946 to 1954, of Derbyshire from 1954 to 1958, and of Bedfordshire from 1957 to 1958. In 1958, he was appointed a Justice of the High Court of Justice, assigned to the Queen's Bench Division, and received the customary knighthood. He retired in 1965.

Family In 1926, Elwes married Mary Freya, née Sykes, elder daughter of Sir Mark Sykes, 6th Baronet; they had two sons and three daughters one of whom was the 1950s TV personality Polly Elwes. He was a devoted Catholic, and was a Knight of Malta.