The Years of my Pilgrimage

The Right Honourable Sir John Ross, 1st Baronet, was the last Lord Chancellor of Ireland. 

Sir John was a son of the manse: his father was the Very Rev Dr Robert Ross, a former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

In 1924 he wrote random reminiscences of his pre-eminent legal career in a book called The Years of my Pilgrimage.

My copy was published in 1924 by Edward Arnold & Co, London.

I happened to be rummaging in a charity bookshop at Botanic Avenue, Belfast, in 2019 (located in a unit below the former Arts Theatre), and I came across this fascinating book.

It shall be an antique in several years' time.

Sir John is, as one would expect, an eloquent writer, recounting a number of crimes he sat in judgment upon during his notable career.

He also had the privilege of meeting many important figures, political and patrician, during his time at Westminster, and having been invited to numerous country house parties, in particular at Mount Stewart, County Down, Baronscourt, County Tyrone, Londonderry House, and Hampden House, the latter residence being the London home of the first Duke of Abercorn at the time.

The first Duke invited Sir John to Baronscourt in September, 1885.

Sir John, in his reminiscences, remarks that His Grace was

"a remarkable man and his like I have never met again. He was one of the handsomest men of his time and kingly in everything he did. He had been twice Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and was most popular, mainly, it was said, because he regarded the people much as the mud on his boots."

"His seven beautiful daughters had married the greatest nobles in the land, namely the Earl of Lichfield, the Earl of Durham, the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, Marquess of Blandford (afterwards Duke of Marlborough), and the Marquess of Lansdowne."

Of Sir Winston Churchill’s father, Sir John remarked: "It was very sad to witness the rapid decline of Lord Randolph Churchill's great prowess. It is unpleasant to read accounts attributing his deterioration to abuse of stimulants and tobacco. He never appeared robust, and it seemed to me a case where the ardent mind simply burned out the frail body."

Sir John observed that Colonel Edward Saunderson was "one of the greatest humorists and hardest hitters in the House of Commons."

I've no idea how many editions of this book were printed, though it's one of my most precious autobiographical publications.

First published in October, 2020.

Hold your tongue, Ross!

A Caricature of Richard Dowse, by Ape,
published in Vanity Fair in 1871

An extract from Chapter XVI of The Years of my Pilgrimage, by the Rt Hon Sir John Ross Bt, last Lord Chancellor of Ireland:-

"It was several years before I learned the first duty of a Judge, and that is, to hold his tongue on the Bench.

There is a great temptation to be facetious in the presence of a most appreciative audience, but in the case of the ordinary Judge, it is well to resist the temptation.

The parties interested in the matter look upon the hearing as  very serious affair; their whole future and the future of their families may depend on the result; their minds have been obsessed by it night and day for many months.

To find the presiding Judge treating it all as a subject for jesting, disturbs them and weakens their confidence in the administration of the law.

On the other hand, where you have Judges like the late Baron Dowse, or Lord Darling, with such an intense sense of humour, the case is different.

The jests pour out naturally and spontaneously; the Judge would not be himself at all, if he were compelled to refrain.

The litigants soon get to understand in such cases, and do not resent it."

The Ross Memoirs: II

SIR JOHN ROSS (1853-1935), THE LAST LORD CHANCELLOR OF IRELAND, WROTE 

RANDOM REMINISCENCES IN 1924, IN A BOOK ENTITLED THE YEARS OF MY PILGRIMGE

NORTH IRISH HORSE

The first mobilized squadron of the North Irish Horse sailed in the transport Architect to Havre on the 17th August, 1914.

Among the officer were Major Lord Cole, afterwards Earl of Enniskillen, Captain Sir Emerson Herdman, Lord Jocelyn, later Earl of Roden, Lieutenants David Kerr, T Hughes, and Ronald Ross.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ronald Ross MC

Another squadron followed shortly afterwards commanded by Major Lord Massereene, and included R A West, who obtained a VC, but was killed subsequently.

Several ex-service officers managed to get out with them, such as Major Barry, RHA (son of my old friend Lord Justice Barry), who did great service.

A heroic youth, Kenneth Greer, son of T M Greer DL, County Antrim, also contrived to embark with them, who was destined to fall while serving in the Irish Guards, after he had done deeds of reckless courage in France.

I do not propose to narrate the history of this contingent, although afterwards, with Ronald [2nd Baronet] I visited the line of the great retreat of the Old Contemptibles from Mons, and nearly all the battlefields on which he had been engaged.

Sir Ronald Ross Bt MC

He went through the whole war to the end; was awarded the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre, and was an infantry brigade major, serving with the 36th (Ulster) Division at the time of the Armistice.

The Ross Memoirs: I

SIR JOHN ROSS (1853-1935), THE LAST LORD CHANCELLOR OF IRELAND, WROTE RANDOM REMINISCENCES IN 1924, IN A BOOK ENTITLED THE YEARS OF MY PILGRIMAGE

THE AMERICAN ENCOUNTER

ON one occasion, we met an American gentleman, who had formerly been a Foreign Secretary to the United States Government.

In those days, Americans were much more aggressive than they are now; he deprecated all our institutions and exalted those of his own country.

I enjoyed myself very much in contradicting and arguing with him.

After dinner one evening he said: "Are you connected with the miscreant General Ross-of-Bladensburg, who burnt down our capital, Washington, in 1814?"

Out of mischief, I resolved to borrow the rights of my friend, Sir John Ross-of-Bladensburg KCB, for the occasion.

Admitting that I was, I added:

"If you go on as you are doing, we are determined to go over and do it again."