Nemone Lethbridge
Nemone Lethbridge (born 1932) is a British barrister and playwright. She was one of Britain's first female barristers.[1]
Nemone Lethbridge | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1932 |
| Nationality | English |
| Alma mater | Somerville College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Barrister, playwright |
| Spouse(s) | Jimmy O'Connor |
| Children | Ragnar O'Connor (born 1970) Milo O'Connor (born 1973) |
Early life and education
Born in 1932, Lethbridge was sent to board at a catholic school in Chew Magna, Somerset when she was eight years old. In 1952 she went up to Somerville College, Oxford to read Law. She was one of only two women studying Law and she had a tutor from Keble College as Somerville did not have a tutor in Law. Lethbridge intended to go into politics, but got pupillage from Mervyn Griffith-Jones. She got this position through her father, Chief of Intelligence for the British Army of the Rhine, who had a connection with David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir, one of the prosecutors at the Nuremberg trials.[2]
She later went to 3 Pump Court, where Rose Heilbron had been placed as well. Lethbridge’s pupil master was Norman Broderick.[2]
Career
Lethbridge was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1956. In 1957, she was taken on as a tenant at 3 Hare Court. She was the first woman at Hare Court, where she was barred from using the facilities.[2] She later represented the Kray twins in court.[1]
She met her husband Jimmy O'Connor at the Star Tavern, Belgravia. In 1942, he was arrested for the murder of George Ambridge. O’Connor was convicted and sentenced to be hanged. After an intervention from one of the police officers, Herbert Morrison, the home secretary, commuted the death sentence and O’Connor served 11 years of a life sentence. Lethbridge and O’Conner married in secret in Ireland in 1959. When this was known to the public in 1962, she was no longer accepted as a member of chambers. Although the evidence against O'Connor was in grave doubt, in 1970 the courts denied O'Connor a full pardon. With his earnings as an author, as well as a few well-received tele-plays by Lethbridge, the couple bought a villa on the isle of Mykonos, spending time with the likes of Aristotle and Jackie Onassis. Lethbridge was known for her work on The Wednesday Play and Pride and Prejudice (1967). In 1971, Lethbridge returned to London seeking a restraining order and they divorced in 1973.
In 1981, she was invited to join the chambers of Louis de Pinna on Chancery Lane.[2] In 1994, O'Connor was given access to a small selection of files from his 1942 trial. One memo suggested that the actual killer was the same man O'Connor claimed had confessed in 1968.[3] When the government started its assault on public funding in 1995, she set up Our Lady of Good Counsel Law Centre in Stoke Newington.[2] In 2007, six years after O'Connor's death, Lethbridge was allowed to bring O'Connor's case once again before the courts. After careful consideration, the courts decided they had serious misgivings concerning O'Connor's conviction. In 2017, she represented the Great Ormond Street Hospital in the Charlie Gard hearings.
Lethbridge’s story was featured in the First 100 Years project, set up to celebrate the centenary of women being able to join the legal profession in the UK and Ireland as a result of Parliament passing the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act in 1919. In 2 Hare Court, a pair of white silk gloves was carried to the swearing in ceremony of 1919 to mark the centenary of women being allowed to enter the legal profession. The gloves pay tribute to Lethbridge.[4]
References
- Catherine Baksi (19 March 2020). "Nemone Lethbridge: 'It's impossible for anyone to go to the Bar who hasn't got a rich daddy'". The Times. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
- Catherine Baksi (6 March 2018). "Legal Hackette Lunches with Nemone Lethbridge". www.legalhackette.com. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
- "Jimmy O'Connor". Guardian Unlimited (2001-10-03). Retrieved on 2008-07-27.
- "Narita Bahra QC Marks First 100 Years and Becomes 1st Female Criminal Silk to Begin the "Lethbridge Gloves" Tradition on Silks Day". 2 Hare Court. 13 March 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2020.