Welcome to Middle Temple Library’s exhibition on Middle Temple and the Second World War.

Middle Temple and the Second World War

2025 marks eighty years since the end of the Second World War. Using material from the Inn’s Archive and Library collections, this exhibition explores the wartime experience of the Middle Temple and its members.

At the Inn, members, residents and staff endured an ordeal of blackouts, bombing, shortages and an ever-changing environment, and worked ceaselessly to protect the Middle Temple and its community from danger.

Countless Middle Templars made their own remarkable contributions to the wider war effort - at home and abroad, in the law, in uniform or civilian dress. The exhibition illuminates a handful of their stories, as well as the presence of members of the Inn at the Nuremberg Trials.

Below are some of the items it featured.

Fragment of the Hall Screen

This fragment of wood is thought to have come from the Elizabethan screen in the Hall, blown to smithereens during the Blitz in October 1940.

Call to the Bar in the bomb-damaged Hall, Trinity 1941.

The Hall was badly damaged during the Blitz, in October 1940. The basic functions of the Inn continued, however, including the ancient ceremony of Call to the Bar.

This photograph shows a Call ceremony taking place with the shored-up hole made in the East gable of Hall above, with one of those being Called lined up in uniform.

Revellers on Fleet Street, Victory in Europe Day, 1945

Victory in Europe was announced on 8 May 1945, following the surrender of Nazi Germany, triggering widespread jubilation. This photograph shows the celebrations on nearby Fleet Street, in which members, residents and staff of the Inn no doubt took part.

Preparations for War

As the international situation became increasingly perilous in the late 1930s, the expectation of war spread, and soon preparations were afoot across the land, including at the Inn. In 1938 a committee was appointed to ‘consider protection against air attack’ and the Surveyor was instructed to prepare air raid shelters. While the Munich Agreement of 1938 offered a brief reprieve, by the summer of 1939 war looked inevitable.

A joint ARP committee with Inner Temple was formed and volunteers sought to act as fire-fighters, wardens, stretcher bearers and first aiders. Instruction was provided on fire-fighting, gas attacks and first aid, and supplies of medicine, equipment and clothing were ordered. Many of the Inn’s prized collections were stored or sent away for safety, including stained glass, paintings, silver and the archives.

The Second World War began on 1 September 1939, and the Minutes of the Inn’s Parliament on 18 September record that: “Master Treasurer reported that the Air Raid Precautions arrangements were complete”. The Standing Orders were suspended, dining terms cancelled and the whole governance of the Inn left in the hands of a Special War Committee of three Benchers.

ARP Training Notice, 1939

This notice advertises courses of instruction for Air Raid Precautions volunteers, including first aid, fire-fighting and anti-gas training, the latter provided by H.A.C. Sturgess, the Inn’s Librarian.

Lists of equipment and medical supplies, 1939

These documents offer an insight in the detailed preparations for war at the Inn. Equipment required for the many ARP volunteers included service respirators, whistles and “Tin-hats for everyone”. Medical needs would be met with biniodide antiseptic, gauze, aspirin, smelling salts and bed pans.

Letters regarding availability during the Long Vacation, 1939

On 18 July 1939 a note was sent to Middle Temple residents asking for their movements during August and September, “in order to provide for possible emergencies during the Long Vacation”, so that the ARP committee might make arrangements for the duties of those available.

Most respondents readily agreed to assist, though some noted the likelihood of their being called up for military service, and one noted (by postcard) that he was unlikely to be returning from France in the near future.

Memorandum regarding the transfer of the 1608 Letters Patent and other records, 1939

Shortly before the start of the war, the 1608 Letters Patent issued by James I which granted the lands of the Temple to the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple, was inspected and then packed up. It was then sent, alongside the archives of the Inn, to the care of Master Wintringham Norton Stable, who had offered to house these treasures in his home at Plas Llywn Owen in Montgomeryshire, Wales. They were later moved to the nearby medieval church of St Mary at Llan, near Llanbrynmair. A small notice in the Church today records that it played host to these collections for the duration of war.

Blackout

The outbreak of war was followed by a cold, snowy winter and the enforcement of the Blackout across London. The fear of night air bombing attacks led to strict regulations, in force from 1 September 1939, calling for windows and doors to be covered at night to prevent the escape of any light which might aid enemy aircraft. The Inn was no exception to these rules, and ARP wardens patrolled the Temple by night, identifying violations - of which there were many.

Volume recording Blackout Violations, 1940-1941

This volume reports breaches of blackout regulations in the Temple and action taken, and remarks and complaints by shelter marshals.

Notice Regarding Blackout Violations, 1939

This notice reminds residents of the importance of adhering to Blackout regulations, and notes the necessity of taking steps to extinguish lights around the Temple.

‘In an Air Raid… If You Are at Home’ poster, c1940

One of a series of posters produced on how to react during an air raid.

The Changing Environment

The ongoing war effort brought many changes to the physical environment of the Inn. From the digging of allotments in the garden to grow produce, in line with the national ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign, to the introduction of reservoirs and water pipes for firefighting, formerly ornamental spaces were put to practical use. The Middle Temple and the Inner Temple made a gift to the government of the iron railings surrounding the Temple Church.

Military uniforms were to be seen in increasing numbers in and around the Temple, with soldiers exercising in the garden, RAF men in charge of a nearby Barrage Balloon, and the requisitioning by the Royal Navy of the ‘Temple Steps’ on the Thames.

The Fountain transformed into a reservoir, 1941

A good supply of water was critical to efforts to fight fires resulting from bombing raids. The Inn’s 17th century fountain was transformed, at the request of the National Fire Service, into a reservoir for water in the summer of 1941.

Plan of proposed pipe line, Middle Temple Lane, 1943

Throughout the war the Inn worked closely with the National Fire Service, housing and purchasing fire engines, hoses and pumps at their recommendation and request. In 1943, the NFS provided this plan, accompanying a request to bury a steel pipe under Middle Temple Lane to aid water supply for fire-fighting.

Allotments in Middle Temple Garden, 1942

By the summer of 1940, it was reported in the Observer that the old tennis courts in the garden had been converted into allotments, growing tomatoes, cabbages, and lines of beans.

‘Dig for Victory’ poster, 1942

A poster launched during WWII encouraging people to cultivate gardens and allotments.

The Kitchen Garden, 2025

Commemorating the Dig for Victory campaign, the kitchen garden will be growing heirloom and heritage varieties that would have been grown at the time of WW2. Varieties such as Tomato ‘Ailsa Craig’, Runner Bean ‘Painted Lady’, and Brussel Sprout ‘Long Island’. Companion planting of flowers and strongly scented herbs will ward off any unwanted pests, rather than using the chemicals of the 1940s such as Nicotine, DDT, and Paris Green. Please feel free to have a visit and taste a tomato or two.

The Royal Rifle Corps in Middle Temple Garden, 1940s

This photograph shows members of the Royal Rifle Corps exercising in the garden. This memento was sent to the Inn after the war by the Sports and Physical Training Officer “in appreciation of your kindness in consenting to our using your ground for Physical Training for the troops”.

The Ordeal

After the long months of preparation and waiting, the Blitz began on 7 September 1940, and the first bombs fell on the Inn a few weeks later, hitting 1 Elm Court. The Under Treasurer, Fireman and Cashier were all fire-watching on top of 4 Elm Court when the building was hit. “Well, we thought that was enough of that”, wrote the Under Treasurer later on. Over the next weeks and months, hundreds more bombs would fall, causing catastrophic damage to chambers buildings, Temple Church, the Library and the Hall.

It was thanks to the preparation, training, endurance and bravery of the many volunteers that the damage was not greater still, and that no lives were lost in the Inn.

While the Blitz came to an end in May 1941, the ordeal was not yet over. Raids recommenced in 1944, causing further devastation to the buildings of the Inn.

Interior of Middle Temple Hall, October 1940

On the night of 15 October 1940, a parachute mine shattered several buildings and sent masonry and debris through the East Gable of the Hall, reducing much of the Elizabethan screen and Minstrels’ Gallery to smithereens.

Notice concerning Temple Air Raid Shelters, 1940

This notice highlights the importance of proper and safe use of the air raid shelters in the Temple, now required on a near-nightly basis.

Middle Temple Lane, October 1940

This view down Middle Temple captures the aftermath of the devastation of 15 October 1940, in which Elm Court was destroyed and the Hall badly damaged.

Elm Court, Autumn 1940

Elm Court was devastated during the Blitz, being hit on the first night on which bombs fell in the Temple, and then utterly destroyed on October 15. This photograph shows chambers interiors which have been revealed by the bombing.

Wartime recollections of C.J. Liddell King, 1946

In this account C.J. Liddell King, a Temple resident and volunteer fire-watcher, vividly recalls the morning after the devastating raid of May 1941 in which the Temple Church was destroyed.

Middle Temple Library, December 1940

On the night of 8 December 1940, a bomb fell in the garden, close to the Inn’s library. The south window was destroyed and bookcases were splintered and emptied of their books. This photograph shows three people surveying the aftermath.

Pump Court, May 1941

This photograph shows damage to Pump Court following the devastating raid of May 10-11 1941. Water from firemen’s hoses floods the court, and the ruins of the Cloisters can be seen in the distance, with still-smouldering debris beyond.

Temple Church Register, 1695-1756

During the raid of May 10-11, the Temple Church was devastated by bombing and subsequent conflagration. The fire which tore through the church damaged the registers of baptisms, marriages and burials which had been kept for centuries: the blackened edges of the pages of this volume are testament to the intensity of the blaze.

Hall Roof burning, March 1944

On the night of March 24-25, 1944, 140 incendiary bombs fell in the Middle Temple, starting nineteen fires, including a serious blaze on the roof of the Hall. With the aid of the National Fire Service, the Inn’s own fire-watchers and pump-crew fought the fire for hours, from inside and outside the Hall, until eventually, at about four in the morning, it was extinguished.

Clearance of debris outside Temple Church, November 1941

The devastation of the Temple necessitated a seemingly never-ending clearance operation. In this photograph, taken some months after the end of the Blitz, two workmen tip debris down chutes into large barrels. The Round of the Temple Church, its roof utterly destroyed earlier that year, can be seen in the background.

The Aftermath of the War

Victory in Europe was declared on 8 May 1945, and the war came to an end later that summer. However, the long ordeal was far from over for the Middle Temple. Vast swathes of the estate lay in ruins, educational and collegiate life had been suspended for over half a decade, and hundreds of members of the Inn remained in military and civilian service both at home and abroad.

Giving a speech on the occasion of her Royal Bench Call in 1944, Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) had declared: “whilst our walls may crumble, this is of small account so long as the virtues and graces for which this Inn has ever stood continue unshaken and unshakeable. It is upon their foundation that you will rebuild; your Courts and Chambers will rise with a greater strength and a new beauty.”

Just as Her Majesty had predicted, in the long years following the war the Inn came gradually back to life amongst ongoing rationing and other privations, and new buildings rose up in place of old. Fittingly, the restored Hall was formally re-opened by the Queen in 1949.

Restoration of the Screen, 1940s

After its destruction in 1940, the splintered fragments of the screen were gathered up into some 200 sacks. Following the war, these pieces were painstaking reassembled in what may be the biggest jigsaw puzzle in history, based on surviving drawings.

Restoration work in Hall, c1946

This photograph shows the restoration of Hall at an early stage, with work underway on the reconstruction of the screen and gallery.

Application for increase of Rations and Points, 1947

In this note, the Under Treasurer writes to the Food Office with details of hot beverages and meals served at the Inn in the past four weeks. Rationing would not formally be ended until 1954.

Queen Elizabeth at the re-opening of Hall, 1949

By 1949, the Hall had been restored, and Queen Elizabeth, serving in that year as the Inn’s Treasurer, formally re-opened the building on July 6.

Intelligence, Government and the Home Front

Countless Middle Templars contributed to the war effort behind the scenes and at home - at the highest levels of military intelligence and government, as participants in the many organisations and initiatives which sprung up over the war years, and, often unrecorded, in their everyday lives.

Sir Eric Sachs (1898-1979)

Eric Sachs was Called in 1921 and became a KC in 1938. He joined the War Office at the outbreak of war and swiftly earned an MBE. In 1942 he was transferred to political warfare and was seconded to the Foreign Office. Here, he produced what became known as the Basic Handbooks (see nearby). He became a Bencher in 1947 and served as Treasurer in 1967, later establishing the Lord Justice Sachs Entrance Exhibition.

Germany Basic Handbook, Volume 1, 1944

The Basic Handbooks were a series of volumes produced under the leadership of Master Eric Sachs as Director of the Directorate of Political Warfare Intelligence, covering in extensive detail enemy countries and those in enemy occupation. They encompass information on administration, politics, economics, history and national characteristics.

The goal of the handbooks was to provide guidance to Commanders-in-Chief and their staffs faced with the need to take over the administration of countries they had liberated or conquered.

Ewen Edward Samuel Montagu (1901-1985)

A KC and Bencher of the Inn, Ewen Montagu was assigned to the Naval Intelligence Division early in the war. He was responsible for the conception of Operation Mincemeat, a now famous deception operation carried out in 1943. The operation involved a corpse dressed in British military uniform being washed ashore in Spain carrying false papers relating to plans for an invasion of Greece. The operation fooled the Germans, who diverted their forces to Greece and thus away from Sicily, where the real invasion was to take place.

The Man Who Never Was, 1953

Montagu told his story in The Man Who Never Was. The book was later adapted for the cinema in 1956 under the same title. The story has since been retold in another film, Operation Mincemeat in 2022, and as a popular West End musical.

Elsie Bowerman (1889-1973)

Elsie Bowerman was Called to the Bar in 1924. Before joining the Inn, she had survived the sinking of the Titanic, witnessed the start of the Russian Revolution in Petrograd, and been active in the suffrage movement. During the Second World War, she worked at the Ministry of Information and with the Women’s Voluntary Service. Following the war she helped to set up the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Sir Stafford Cripps (1889-1952)

Stafford Cripps was Called in 1913 and appointed KC in 1926, and later became a Labour Party politician, serving as Solicitor General from 1931 under Ramsay MacDonald.

Cripps was appointed Ambassador to the Soviet Union by Churchill in 1940, and helped to forge the alliance with Moscow following Hitler’s invasion in 1941. He served in various wartime cabinet positions including Leader of the House of Commons and Minister of Aircraft Production, in which he played a key role in support of Air Chief Marshal Harris’ bombing campaign against Germany. He later served in the Attlee government from 1945 to 1950.

Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading and Baroness Swanborough (1894-1971)

Stella Isaacs was the widow of Rufus Isaacs, Marquess of Reading, Lord Chief Justice, Viceroy of India and Middle Templar, whose portrait hangs in the Parliament Chamber.

In 1938 she was asked by the government to set up what would go on to be called the Women’s Voluntary Service. The WVS recruited women to volunteer in all manner of capacities to assist the government and local authorities, including Air Raid Precautions, evacuation, childcare and supporting refugees. She later became the first female peer to sit in the House of Lords.

Sybil Campbell (1889-1977)

Sybil Campbell was one of the first cohort of nine women Called to the Bar at the Inn in 1922, going on to practice as a barrister. During the war she served as Principal Enforcement Officer at the Ministry of Food, prosecuting the many infringements of rationing regulations. She was appointed an OBE in 1942 for this service. In 1945, she became the first female stipendiary magistrate.

Military Service

Hundreds of members of the Middle Temple served in the British armed forces throughout the Second World War. Whether serving on the front line as soldiers, pilots or sailors, as military lawyers or medical officers, or holding senior staff appointments, the contribution of Middle Templars to the military struggle was extensive and profound. Many were killed in action or captured as prisoners of war, and several showed outstanding heroism.

An Uncertain Voyage, Anthony Babington, 2000

Anthony Babington grew up in India and England and served with the Royal Ulster Rifles and the Dorset Regiment in the Second World War. At the Battle of Arnhem in 1944 he was badly wounded and was expected never to walk or talk again. He eventually recovered the ability to speak and write, and eventually to walk, and was Called to the Bar at the Inn in 1948, later serving as a circuit judge.

Sir Tasker Watkins (1918-2007)

Tasker Watkins joined the British Army in 1939 and arrived in Normandy with the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division shortly after the D-Day landings. He fought in the battle of the Falaise Pocket and was awarded the VC for his gallantry, which is described in detail above.

Needs Must: The History of the Inns of Court Regiment, 1940-1945, A.F. Taggart, 1949

The Inns of Court Regiment existed between 1932 and 1961, but succeeded bodies dating back centuries such as the Inns of Court Rifle Volunteers and the Bloomsbury Inns of Court Volunteers.

The regiment saw active service as an armoured car unit during the Second World War, participating in the D-Day landings and throughout the subsequent campaign across Europe.

This volume records the regiment’s wartime story and was donated to the Inn in 1949 by the Commanding Officer and officers of the regiment.

Jeremy Hutchinson (1915-2017)

Jeremy Hutchinson was Called in 1939 but shortly afterwards joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He was aboard the destroyer HMS Kelly during the Battle of Crete in 1941, surviving its sinking. He prosecuted his first case while posted in Italy in 1944.

As a barrister, he led several notable defences including of Penguin Books in the Lady Chatterley trial and of Kempton Bunton, on trial for the theft of Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington.

Laetitia Fairfield (1885-1978)

Laetitia Fairfield had been a senior Medical Officer in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and the Royal Air Force during the First World War. In between the wars, she was Called to the Bar and was involved with various public health initiatives in London. During the Second World War she was appointed Senior Woman Medical Officer of the Armed Forces by the War Office.

John Henry Clavell Smythe (1915-1996)

Born in colonial Sierra Leone, Smythe joined the Royal Air Force in 1943. He flew bombing raids over Germany as one of the few Black airmen before being shot down and captured, spending 18 months as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft I. After the war he joined the Inn and while a student he worked for the Colonial Office, in which capacity he served as the senior Colonial Office official on the Empire Windrush. After his Call to the Bar, he returned to Sierra Leone, where he rose to be a QC and Attorney General.

Middle Templars killed on Active Service

A newspaper advertisement placed in 1961 requested information about members of the Inn killed on active service in the Second World War. These two letters, received in response, report the deaths of Major John Sydney Krill, killed in action in Melun, France in August 1944, and Alfred Maria de Lourde Soares, who died building the Siam Railway after Singapore had been overrun by the Japanese.

Joyce Gutteridge

Gutteridge was Called to the Bar at the Inn in 1938, and at the outbreak of war became an army lawyer with the Auxiliary Territorial Service. She later played a key role in drafting the 1949 Geneva Conventions and worked for many years for the Foreign Office.

Richard Orme Wilberforce, Baron Wilberforce (1907-2003)

Wilberforce, a descendant of the abolitionist, was Called in 1932, and volunteered for service at the outbreak of War, being commissioned into the Royal Artillery. He served as aide-de-camp to Major-General Bernard Paget during the Norwegian Campaign in 1940, later being in charge of Army entertainments for the War Office, and was attached to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in 1944. He drafted the German Instrument of Surrender signed on 8 May 1945. He returned to the law after the war and in 1964 became a Law Lord, retiring in 1982.

Memorial of Jocelyn ‘Jack’ Simon (1911-2006)

Jocelyn Edward Salis Simon was Called to the Bar in 1934. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the Inns of Court Regiment and was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Tank Regiment, commanding a squadron of tanks in the invasion and liberation of Madagascar. He also fought in Burma and ended the war as a Lieutenant Colonel. He served as an MP after the war, and in various government positions including Solicitor General under Harold Macmillan. He resigned from the cabinet in 1962 and became a High Court Judge and later a Law Lord.

NUREMBERG

Following the end of the war, the International Military Tribunal was convened in Nuremberg in occupied Germany, at which more than twenty of the most prominent surviving leaders of the Nazi regime were put on trial.

The Courtroom at Nuremberg, 4 June 1946

This photograph shows the inside of the courtroom at Nuremberg. It depicts G.D. ‘Khaki’ Roberts, a member of the Inner Temple and one of the British prosecutors, cross-examining Alfred Jodl, who sits to the right in the witness box. Fellow defendants listen in the large dock to the left, under the eyes of white-helmeted U.S. guards.

Members of the British delegation at Nuremberg

This photograph shows members the British delegation at the airport, including Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, Sir Henry MacGeagh and G.D. ‘Khaki’ Roberts.

‘Nurnberg’, Charles W. Alexander, 1946

This volume was donated to the Library by the Treasurer, Kenneth Carpmael, in 1961. Compiled by the photographer Charles W. Alexander, it contains photographs of the trials at Nuremberg as well as scenes from the city itself. The cover shows the Palace of Justice, where the trials were held.

Armorial Panel of Mervyn Griffith Jones (1909-1973)

Mervyn Griffith-Jones was Called to the Bar in 1932 and served with the Coldstream Guards during the Second World War, being awarded the MC. He was a junior prosecuting counsel in the British delegation at Nuremberg. He later led the prosecution of Penguin Books in the Lady Chatterley trial.

Security of Isaac Jackson as Under Treasurer, 1717

Isaac Jackson served as Under Treasurer to the Inn from 1717 to 1726. His descendant, Robert H. Jackson, was an American Lawyer who served on the Supreme Court from 1941 to 1954. He was the United States Chief Prosecutor at Nuremberg, giving memorable opening and closing addresses before the court.

Colonel Sir Henry Davies Foster MacGeagh (1883-1962), c1904

Henry MacGeagh was Called to the Bar at the Inn in 1906 and became a Bencher in 1931. He served as Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces from 1934 to 1955, and was present among the British delegation at Nuremberg.