James Fawcett

Sir James Edmund Sandford Fawcett (16 April 1913 – 24 June 1991) was a British barrister. He was a member of the European Commission for Human Rights from 1962 to 1984, and its president from 1972 to 1981, and was knighted in 1984. Childhood and education Fawcett was born in Wallingford, which was then in Berkshire. He was the son of Joseph Fawcett, a clergyman in the Church of England, and Edith ( Scattergood). He was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and at Rugby School, and then read classics at New College, Oxford. He graduated with first-class honours. He won a prize fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, and was again a fellow at All Souls from 1961 to 1969. He won the Eldon Law Scholarship and was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1938. Career He worked practising as a barrister on the North-eastern Circuit.