Tudor Rees

John Thomas Tudor Rees (1880 – 27 February 1956) was a Welsh lawyer, judge and Liberal politician.

Family and education Tudor Rees, as he was usually known, was the son of the late John Rees of Maesteg in Glamorgan and brother of Sir William Beddoe Rees, and the soldier and Military Cross recipient Sir Frederick Tavinor Rees. He was educated at the University of Wales. In 1918 he married Dorothy Sidebotham of Bowdon, Cheshire. They had one son and two daughters.

Career Rees’ chosen profession was the law. He practised as a solicitor in Cardiff but was later called to the Bar by Gray's Inn in 1922. In February 1939 he was appointed a County Court judge and sat at Whitechapel, Bow and at Uxbridge and Brentford County Courts. He also sat as a Justice of the Peace in Surrey and was later Chairman of Surrey Quarter Sessions. He retired from the Bench in 1955. In 1915 he volunteered for the Welsh Regiment eventually achieving the rank of Captain and also served in the Machine-Gun Corps. He may have received the Coalition Coupon because he is described in one important and reliable record as a Coalition Liberal but Roy Douglas, a historian of the Liberal Party, believes Rees was one of 29 Liberal candidates denied the coupon. Another source indicates that Rees was denied the coupon but immediately accepted the Coalition Whip on getting into Parliament. At the time of the election Rees stated that his political priorities were the housing question and the reform of the jury system.

Other public service Rees served as Deputy Chairman of the Road and Rail Traffic Appeal Tribunal and was made a freeman of the City of London in 1921 and of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey in 1954. He was also deputy lieutenant of Surrey.

Death His Honour Judge Tudor Rees died at his home in Tadworth, Surrey, aged 75 on 27 February 1956.

Publications Our Jury System – publisher and date of publication not known Welsh Disestablishment, Objections Answered; Hodder & Stoughton 1912 Reserved Judgment: Some Reflections and Recollections, Muller, 1956 Divorce Handbook, Butterworth's 1963 The Criminal Justice Act, 1948: an explanatory handbook for magistrates, practitioners and probation officers, Butterworth's 1949 (with Ernest Graham) Inquiry into the Compulsory Proposed Amalgamation of the County Police Forces of Leicestershire and Rutland, Home Office publications, 1950 They Stand Apart: A critical survey of the problems of homosexuality (with H V Usill eds.) William Heinemann: London, 1955