Donald Finnemore

He was the son of William and Kate Finnemore. He was a grandson of John Skirrow Wright Liberal MP for Nottingham. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and Pembroke College, Oxford (Scholar). He was awarded a First Class in Jurisprudence and Proxime accessit for the Vinerian Law Scholarship at Oxford. He served in France as British Red Cross Officer from 1916 to 1919.^[1]

He was called by Inner Temple (Prize for Constitutional Law and Legal History) in 1914 and worked on the Midland Circuit. In 1930, he was involved in the so-called Blazing Car murder case.^[2] as defending counsel for Alfred Rouse, who was convicted of the murder of an unknown man and hanged. The Crown was represented by his longtime friend and colleague Norman Birkett.^[3] He was Honorary Legal Adviser to the Midland Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence, 1940–45. He was Chairman of the Midland Conscientious Objectors Tribunal, 1940–47. The actor Paul Eddington in his memoir recounts his appearance before Finnemore, who accepted Eddington's application for conscientious objector status.^[4] He was a County Court Judge (North Staffs and Birmingham) 1940–44, (Wolverhampton, etc.) 1944–46 and (Birmingham) 1946–47. He was a Member of the Matrimonial (Trial in Provinces) Committee, 1942–43. He was Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty, 1947–48. He was Judge of the High Court (Queen's Bench Division), 1948–64, during which time he presided over the trial of the serial killer John Christie in 1953. He was Chairman Warwickshire Quarter Sessions, 1950–71. He was a Member, of the Criminal Law Revision Committee, from 1965. He served as a Justice of the Peace in Warwickshire.^[1]