George Talbot

Sir George John Talbot (19 June 1861 – 11 July 1938) was an English barrister and High Court judge. Early life and background Talbot was born in London in 1861, the eldest son of John Gilbert Talbot, Conservative Member of Parliament for West Kent and for Oxford University, and of The Hon Meriel Sarah Talbot, née Lyttelton, eldest daughter of George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton. Through his mother he was related to several prominent members of the Lyttelton family, such as Alfred Lyttelton, Arthur Lyttelton, and George William Spencer Lyttelton. Through his father he was the nephew of Edward Talbot, Bishop of Winchester. Talbot's father was educated at Charterhouse, but his disapproval of the migration of that school to Godalming caused him in 1873 to send his son to Winchester College. In 1880 Talbot gained a junior studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he obtained first-class honours in classical moderations (1882) and in literae humaniores (1884). In 1886 was elected to a prize fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford. A career in the Church or at the bar was obvious for Talbot. On his father's side he was sixth in descent from Lord Chancellor Talbot, while on his mother's side he was thirteenth in descent from Sir Thomas Littleton, judge of the Common Pleas, and ninth in descent from Lord Chancellor Bromley. His grandfather, John Chetwynd Talbot (a son of Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 2nd Earl Talbot), whose law library he inherited, had a highly successful career at the parliamentary bar in its busiest days of railway promotions. As all these ancestors were members of the Inner Temple Talbot followed them, and was there called to the bar in 1887. He took silk in 1906, became a bencher of his Inn in 1914, and was its treasurer in 1936.