Attention: You are using an outdated browser, device or you do not have the latest version of JavaScript downloaded and so this website may not work as expected. Please download the latest software or switch device to avoid further issues.

News > Alumni News > Sir Neil Garnham Becomes OI Club President for 2023

Sir Neil Garnham Becomes OI Club President for 2023

24 Jan 2023
Alumni News

The President of the OI Club for 2023 is Sir Neil Garnham.

Neil was at the School from 1970 to 1977 and in Felaw House.  He was an enthusiastic, if unexceptional, rugby player, playing in the first XV for the last couple of years of his school life. He also played tennis and squash for the school and was a keen debater in the school debating team.

Neil did seventh term Oxbridge and went up to Peterhouse, Cambridge to read law.  He graduated in 1981 and took the bar finals exams in 1982; he was called to the bar by Middle Temple the same year and began pupillage at 1 Temple Gardens, in London.  Neil moved chambers in 1996 joining 1 Crown Office Row, a set that specialised in clinical negligence and public law work.  He took silk in 2001, and practised as a QC for 14 years before being appointed a High Court judge, and knighted, in 2015. In his last years at the bar Neil was involved in a series of public inquiries, including the Paddington Grove Rail Inquiry, the Victoria Climbie Inquiry, the Leveson Inquiry into the press, and the Litvinenko Inquiry.

On the bench, Neil is just coming to the end of a four year term as Presiding Judge of the western circuit, the supervising judge for courts from Winchester to Truro, Exeter to Swindon. In London, he sits on civil and public law cases and in the Court of Appeal Criminal Division.

Neil married a former High School girl, Gill (nee Shaw).  They have two sons, Freddie, now a primary school teacher in Oxfordshire, and Charlie, currently a student at Oxford Brookes.  Having spent 20 years living in London, Sussex and Essex, Neil and Gill returned to Suffolk in 2008.  

Similar stories

Photograph by Gavin King

Russ returned to the Library at Ipswich School to hand in a book he has been 'looking after' for 30 years. More...

From 1947 to 1954, John Graham was a prominent member of the Ipswich School community - he was a member of the rugby fir… More...

Archie Reynolds and ‘Masculinity in Bloom’, Isabel Montgomery's 'Obscurity' can be viewed

Two OIs have had their work selected to be included in a national online art exhibition. More...

Congratulations to Robert Erith (OI 1947-55) who has been awarded the British Empire Medal, (BEM) in the King’s New Year… More...

Most read

We are very sad to announce the passing of Jack Aggett who was at the School from 2006 until 2019. More...

We are sorry to announce the passing of Cameron Farnan on 2nd January 2024. More...

We are very sad to announce the passing of Jeremy who was at the School from 1952 until 1963. More...

Have your say

 
This website is powered by
ToucanTech