Anthony Babington (politician)

Sir Anthony Brutus Babington PC(NI) QC (24 November 1877 – 10 April 1972) was an Anglo-Irish barrister, judge and politician.

Early life

Babington was born in 1877 to Hume Babington JP, the son of Rev. Hume Babington and a landowner in County Londonderry who inherited the family estate Creevagh House,^[1][2] and Hester Watt (sister of Andrew Alexander Watt). He was educated at Glenalmond School, Perthshire and Trinity College, Dublin.

Babington was born into the Anglo-Irish Babington family that had resettled in Ireland after the execution of Anthony Babington for his participation in the Babington Plot. Notable relations include Anthony Babington, William Babington, Benjamin Guy Babington, James Melville Babington, Zachary Babington, the Couper Baronets and the Marquesses of Tweeddale.

Political and legal career

Babington was called to the Irish Bar in 1900 and took silk in 1918. In 1925, he was elected to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland as Unionist member for South Belfast, and then for Belfast, Cromac in 1929 until he resigned upon appointment as a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1937. He was a proponent of renaming Northern Ireland as "Ulster".^[3]

He served as Attorney General for Northern Ireland from 1925–1937, and was appointed to the Privy Council of Northern Ireland in 1926, entitling him to the style "The Right Honourable". He was knighted in the 1937 Coronation Honours. He retired from the judiciary in 1949. He was also a member of The Apprentice Boys of Derry Parent Club in Londonderry. From 1926 to 1952, Sir Anthony was a member of the board of governors of the Belfast Royal Academy. He served as warden (chairman) of the board from 1941–43. Through his efforts the school acquired the Castle Grounds from Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury in 1934.^[4]

Personal life

On 5 September 1907, he married Ethel Vaughan Hart, daughter of George Vaughan Hart KC LLD, of Howth, County Dublin (the son of Sir Andrew S. Hart) and his wife Mary Elizabeth Hone, a scion of the Hone family.^[5] They had three children:

• Mary Hume Babington (5 June 1908 – 24 February 2003)^[6][7] who married T.G. Wilson in 1928.^[8][9]
• Emerson Hume Babington (17 January 1910 – 1989)^[10][11][12]
• Ruth Babington (1913–1999)^[13][14]

Babington was a keen golfer. He was an international golfer from 1903 to 1913 where he achieved many awards and accolades, and his wife, Lady Babington, was also at the forefront of ladies' golf in Ireland.^[15] The Babington Room in the Royal Portrush Golf Club is named after him, as is the 16th hole on the course as a result of the key role he played in shaping its history.^[16][17]

Ancestry

References

Sources

• http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/biographies.html