The Badge and the Motto

Our badge (often incorrectly called the crest) is heraldically described as "Sable a griffin segreant or", that is, a golden griffin on a black field (an alternative version was also formerly used, with a blue field). Originally the Inn used the Grey or de Grey arms ("Barry of six azure and argent", or six blue and silver horizontal stripes) within a quartered blue and gold border, which can be seen in the pediment over the Benchers' entrance to the House premises. There is no record of precisely when the change was made, but it occurred around the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. Nor is there any firm explanation of why it was made: the most commonly accepted one is that the griffin was adopted from the arms of Richard Aungier, who was Reader four times and Treasurer three times, and died in 1597. He was a distinguished Bencher of his day and very closely concerned with the management and affairs of the Inn. The change was presumably made not only to honour Aungier, but also because a griffin would have made a far more spectacular badge for the "Shows" in which the theatrical talent of the Inn was engaged, than the plain bars of the de Grey arms. The seal of the Society is the Badge encircled by the motto, of which there is again no record of when or why it was chosen. The motto reads: "Integra Lex Aequi Custos Rectique Magistra Non Habet Affectus Sed Causas Gubernat" (Impartial justice, guardian of equity, mistress of the law, without fear or favour rules men's causes aright).

The Origins

The first habitation known to have been on or close to the site of the present Hall was the Manor House of the ancient Manor of Purpoole: Purpoole meaning "the market by the lake". The market was the cattle market, the present site of the Prudential Insurance Building in Holborn. The lake or lakes were the area to the north and east of Purpoole Lane (to the east of Gray's Inn Road), where the land can be seen to fall away. The Manor House was the property of Sir Reginald de Grey, Chief Justice of Chester, Constable and Sheriff of Nottingham, who died in 1308. None of the Inns of Court has a proven year of foundation. Though some have later charters, none of the Inns were founded by charter, ordinance or endowment and there is no extant record of a first lease. Indeed the records of Gray's Inn do not commence until 1569.

 

One matter seems proven: we need not look for a beginning after 1388, because in that year there is record of members of Gray's Inn, the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple graduating as Serjeants-at-law.

For many centuries it had been the view, held with varying degrees of confidence, that the starting point of the Inns of Court was a writ of Edward I made on the advice of his Council in 1292. In 1285 the King went to France to attend to the affairs of his Duchy of Aquitaine; he stayed away for nearly 4 years and during that time many of his judicial and administrative Officers in England engaged in corruption. On his return the King set up a commission to inquire into the whole matter and many of the Judges were disgraced and dismissed.

In 1370 the Manor House is described for the first time as "hospitium" (a hostel). That change of description suggests a gathering of lodgers at the Manor House by 1370 and it seems probable that the "hospitium" was a learned society of lawyers, because only eighteen years later two members became Serjeants.

 

 

The Inns of Court

 

Today the governance of the Inns of Court is entrusted to the Benchers made up in the main from Judges of the High Court and senior barristers. It was not always so. Up to the end of the sixteenth century the title of Bencher was accorded to those who judged the moots held in the Inns of Court. Benchers were not concerned with the control of the Inn's affairs, that was left to the Grand Company - the Treasurer, Readers and Ancients. In the fifteenth century there were many more legal societies or Inns than the four Inns of Court that we know today. Those with the most active educational programmes attracted the brighter and more ambitious students, who in their turn became Readers and Serjeants. During this century there were more men called to be Serjeants from Gray's Inn than any other Inn of Court.

During the sixteenth century the four Inns of Court had greatly prospered. Not only were the Judges closely connected with the Inns, but the prosperity of the Inns had attracted the support of the statesmen of the day. Edmund Dudley, a financial agent and adviser to Henry VII was a fellow of Gray's Inn, until beheaded on the orders of Henry VIII in the first year of his reign. Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's persecutor of the old religious order, was a member. He suffered the same fate for his excessive zeal later in the King's reign.

As the sixteenth century advanced, prosperity attracted a broader culture to the Inns. Good manners, courtly behaviour, singing and dancing came to the fore. Hall was cleared for the galliard and colourful masques and revels were performed.The entertainment on occasions spread to street processions and river pageants. Perhaps the Inns were too successful in these pursuits, because they soon became fashionable places for noblemen and country gentlemen to send their sons. "Of Gray's Inn" and "student of Gray's Inn" merited inclusion in epitaphs on many tombstones. Many members had no intention of becoming barristers. Between 1561 and 1600 the average admittance to the Inn was 62, whereas the annual calls to the Bar were only 6. Nevertheless this has been named "the Golden Age" when Queen Elizabeth herself was the Inn's Patron Lady; Lord Burleigh, the Queen's First Minister, Lord Howard of Effingham, the Admiral who defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, and Sir Francis Walsingham, the Chief Secretary who founded the Queen's secret service, were all members of Gray's Inn. It was not only from the Benchers' table that the Inn took its fame.The Inn was renowned for its "Shows" and there can be little doubt that William Shakespeare played in Gray's Inn Hall, where his patron, Lord Southampton was a member.

Between 1680 and 1687 there were three disastrous fires in Gray's Inn. That of 1684 was particularly grievous for it burnt the Library, which was then on the present site of No 1 Gray's Inn Square, and that is probably when our ancient records were lost.The fire on 21st January 1687 burnt up "5 staircases". For the next hundred years or more, qualification for call to the Bar depended on eating dinners and on the recommendation of a Judge or a Bencher. By the 1840s the regulations had changed little from the 1740s except that taking the Sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England had ceased to be a condition of Call.

By 1846 it was being urged in the profession and in Parliament that students ought to receive a comprehensive legal education and that there should be uniformity of practice of call to the Bar. In 1852 the Council of Legal Education was established and each of the Inns undertook not only to pay expenses but also to lend two classrooms. Twenty years later examination for Call to the Bar was introduced.The Council became housed in Lincoln's Inn but following the 1939-45 War moved into purpose-built accommodation in Gray's Inn Place and later expanded further into Atkin Building as the Inns of Court School of Law. Additionally, a need has been found for advanced advocacy training at the stage of pupillage. Gray's Inn has led the way in introducing mock trials and advocacy training before the Judges and senior practitioners of the Inn in addition to students' moots and debates. This training is now compulsory for all pupils.

 

 

The Hall

 

The life of Gray's Inn is focused on the Hall, and so it has been throughout our long history; more so perhaps in the 15th and 16th centuries when the students resided in the Inn and attendance at Dinner (lunch) and Supper in Hall was compulsory, as also were the sessions of teaching and practical exercises.

 

The Hall has been its present size and shape since it was "re-edified" in 1556-8, except that it then had no screen. Even the grievous war damage of 1941 did not wholly destroy those 16th century walls, and the glass, pictures and Treasurers' shields which had been removed to a place of safety, were able to be replaced on the reconstructed walls.

 

The Screen at the west end of the Hall is the most interesting possession of Gray's Inn. Tradition claimed that it or part of it was made from the wood of a captured Spanish galleon, and that the wood was the gift of Queen Elizabeth I.

 

In order to heat the Hall more efficiently than a fire-place in the wall, a heavy iron stove, with three sides and a flat top, was installed in 1815 in the centre of the Hall. Each side formed a fire-place with the smoke being drawn away through flues led under the floor and connected to a chimney.

 

Some of the stained glass in the windows dates back to the sixteenth century. The earliest commemoration is dated 1462, which can be seen in the top left hand side of the north side oriel window. In the centre of that window at the top are the great arms of the Duke of Albermarle (General Monck) who led King Charles II's army into London at the Restoration. The Accounts Ledger for 1660 records that the Benchers, no doubt wishing to exhibit their loyalty, paid 10 shillings for a carriage to take them to greet General Monck as he marched into London.

 

 

The Library

 

The earliest mention of the Library appears in 1555 when Robert Chaloner instructed in his will that all his law books should be fastened by chains in the Library at Gray's Inn. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Library was situated on the site now occupied by 1 Gray's Inn Square, and in the eighteenth century an order was made to build a library in Holborn Court (now South Square). In 1840 extensions were added but by 1880 a still larger building was required for the rapidly increasing number of books. By 1929 an even larger building was needed and a new library was built from funds supplied by the trust created by Master Sir John Holker. Known as the Holker Library and once described as "the most comfortable library in London" it was, only eleven years later, levelled to the ground by bombs and fire, and its 30,000 books were destroyed except for the collection of manuscripts and early printed books, which had been removed to the country.

 

After the destruction in May 1941 and until 1946 the Library, with a small collection of books, operated from various rooms in the Inn. However, from 1946 until 1958, the Library was in a prefabricated structure in the Walks. The temporary Library was opened by the late Master Winston Churchill on 18th June 1946, who proclaimed it to be "the architecture of the aftermath". Books had been gathered from many sources, and it must be recorded that the first gift of books after the destruction of the Holker Library came from H.M. King George VI in right of the Duchy of Lancaster and consisted of a complete set of Statutes at Large. The Duchy of Lancaster once had offices in the Inn.

 

The Chapel

 

There is no doubt that our present Chapel is on the same site (except for the chancel) as the Chapel provided for John le Grey in 1315. In 1539 Pension ordered that in consideration of the wishes of the King (Henry VIII) the image of Thomas a' Becket should be removed from one of the windows. Our records show that in 1570 there were chambers over the Chapel, for in that year the tenants were ordered to quit. Rebuilding took place in 1689, without any chambers. In 1893 the building was restored and remained until it was destroyed by enemy action in 1941. From 1941 to 1960 a room in the Common Room building was used for Divine Service. When rebuilding took place the Chapel was enlarged and the original stained glass windows, which had been removed for safety, were replaced.The east window, originally erected in 1895, commemorates four archbishops who were either members or preachers of Gray's Inn: they are Whitgift, Juxon, Wake and Laud, and the centre panel depicts Thomas a' Becket.