Cyril Asquith, Baron Asquith of Bishopstone

The Right Honourable The Lord Asquith of Bishopstone PC
Asquith in 1937
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
In office 23 April 1951 – 24 August 1954
Preceded by	The Lord MacDermott
Succeeded by	The Lord Somervell of Harrow
Lord Justice of Appeal
In office 13 February 1946 – 23 April 1951
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Sir John Morris
Justice of the High Court
In office 28 March 1938 – 13 February 1946
Preceded by	Sir Samuel Porter
Succeeded by	Sir Frederic Sellers
Personal details
Born	(1890-02-25)25 February 1890 London, England
Died	24 August 1954(1954-08-24) (aged 64) London, England
Spouse	Anne Stephanie Pollock ​ ​ (m. 1918)​
Children	4
Parent(s)	H. H. Asquith Helen Kelsall Melland
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford

Cyril Asquith, Baron Asquith of Bishopstone, PC (5 February 1890 – 24 August 1954) was an English barrister and judge who served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1951 until his death three years later.

The youngest child of British prime minister H. H. Asquith by his first wife, Cyril Asquith followed the steps of his father and eldest brother into a distinguished academic career at Balliol College, Oxford, before serving in the British Army during the First World War. After the war he practised, with modest success, at the common law bar until 1938, when he was appointed to the High Court. He was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 1946 and to the House of Lords in 1951. The same year he was offered the Lord Chancellorship by Winston Churchill, but declined the post.

Asquith was widely regarded as possessing one of the finest minds on the bench, although his rapid rise, after an unremarkable career at the bar, was the cause for some adverse comment. According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, his career was an "undistinguished—although extraordinarily lucky" one.^[1]