| Sir John Anthony Wall | |
|---|---|
| High Court of Justice of England and Wales | |
| In office 1990–2002 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 June 1930 London, United Kingdom |
| Died | 1 December 2008 (aged 78) |
| Nationality | British |
| Children | four sons[1] |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
Sir John Anthony Wall CBE (4 June 1930 – 1 December 2008) was a British lawyer and the first visually impaired judge of the High Court of Justice of the 20th century.[1]
He was born in North London suffering from glaucoma, which caused him to go completely blind by the age of eight.[1] After his blindness took hold he transferred to Chorleywood School for the Blind, where he stayed until 1940 when he moved to Worcester College for the Blind (now New College Worcester. Despite only being 14 (two years younger than usual) he took his School Certificate in 1944, scoring highest in his class.[1] After further strong academic performance he was accepted into Balliol College, Oxford where he read jurisprudence and graduated in 1951.[1]
His blindness presented him with difficulties in finding a job; after graduation he applied to over 400 companies and was invited to 53 interviews before he was offered a job as a clerk at Wilkins, Rowan and Newman, a small law firm in Chelsea. He became a solicitor in 1954, and in 1956 began working for the National Association of Local Government Officers as a legal adviser. Around this time he attempted to become a judge; he was rejected due to the difficulties his blindness would cause (leaving him unable to read court documents or study witnesses, for example) and because it was felt appointing a blind judge would not leave the public confident he could perform his duties.[1]
In 1974 he joined the law firm Middleton Lewis as a partner specialising in litigation, staying on when the firm merged with Lawrence Graham in 1977. He again applied to become a judge in 1990 and was this time successful, being appointed a Deputy Master of the High Court in the Chancery Division. He was formally appointed in 1991, and was noted for his speed, work ethic and efficiency.[1] In 1993 he retired as a partner at Lawrence Graham.[1] He was chairman of the Royal National Institute for the Blind from 1990 to 2000,[1] and in the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), "For services to Blind People",[2] and was knighted in the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, "For services to Disabled People".[3][4] He stepped down from his position as a judge in 2004. He died on December 1, 2008 of heart failure.[1]