Within these walls. . .

Over hundreds of years, Middle Temple Scholars have studied and honed their skills here.

Education is at the core of Middle Temple’s values. The knowledge, skills and experience provided by the Inn is vital to ensuring Barristers of the future can uphold the law on which our society depends.

Whilst a skilled workforce is vital to uphold the law, so too is representation. This is where Scholarships are vital – allowing those exceptional students from untraditional backgrounds to develop their skills and talents to good use in the law.

In addition to providing vital financial support to allow students to complete their Bar Course, Scholarships are also a way of recognising the hard work and determination of students who have overcome significant obstacles to excel in their studies. They provide a vote of confidence at a crucial point in a potential Barrister’s career, helping them take the next steps to success.

Your support can help exceptional Scholars like Daniel to learn and thrive at Middle Temple.

Daniel was called in 2021, and he explains the difference his Scholarship has made to his life and his future:

Without a Scholarship, I would not be a Barrister. Being working-class and disabled, I could not access the funds for the Bar Course because of limitations.

Because of the Scholarship, I obtained an LLM in Legal Practice, with an Outstanding in the Bar Course modules. Subsequently, I completed pupillage, which provided incredible training and introduced me to remarkable friends. I now practice at an equally brilliant set.

I have met the best people at every stage of my career, and I would not have done so without the Scholarship.

As a wheelchair user with a speech impairment, the Scholarship showed that my Inn – my domus
– believed in me.

Your gift could help the Inn to uphold our responsibility to exceptional future Barristers like Daniel – giving them the support they need to excel, and ensuring our profession continues to be defined by the merit of those who work within it.

The history of the Honourable Society of Middle Temple, spanning eight centuries, is rich and complex. The institution has long been at the heart of legal education, yet Middle Temple’s influence goes beyond the legal sphere, encompassing a thousand tales of history, human experience and endeavour, across politics, academia and beyond.

As Members, we are the custodians of this heritage. It is a great responsibility, which you and your fellow Members can all help collectively uphold.

A robust programme of conservation is necessary to preserve and protect our heritage. For example, the armorial panels in Hall, some dating back to the 16th century, require specialist conservation to maintain, as well as an informed understanding of the materials and techniques used in their creation.

The Library holds a collection of approximately 9,000 books printed prior to 1800, and 300 manuscripts. Of these, many are in need of urgent

One certainty is that in the future, as in the past, Middle Temple will meet new challenges and great uncertainties. From the fire in 1679 which destroyed most of the Inn, to World War, to the more recent Covid 19 pandemic.

Whether the Inn faces the impact of physical damage or destruction, or our members face hardship, the Inn can only endure troubling times if we have dependable resources on which to draw. Only then can we answer challenges swiftly to rebuild, create new opportunities and emerge ever stronger.

The Fund for the Future was created for this very purpose.

1. Chan Toon

Year of Call: 1888
A native of Burma (now Myanmar), Chan Toon was one of the Inn’s first Southeast Asian Scholars, proving his prowess in law by winning first-class Scholarships in International & Constitutional Law and Common & Criminal Law from the Inn, and a studentship in Jurisprudence & Roman Law from the Council of Legal Education. He returned to Burma and was appointed a judge in the Court of Small Causes at Rangoon.

2. Ernest Radford

Year of Call: 1880
Ernest Radford was one of the first cohort of four Middle Temple Scholars, earning a Scholarship following examination in Real & Personal Property. After his Call, he pivoted to poetry, literary criticism and politics. He befriended the family of Karl Marx, and was a follower of William Morris, a key figure in the Arts & Crafts movement and leader of the Socialist League, to whom Radford dedicated a memorial poem.

4. Sir Jeremy Hutchinson

Year of Call: 1939
Lord Hutchinson became a Harmsworth Scholar in 1937. After serving in the Royal Naval Reserve during the Second World War, he established himself as a leading criminal advocate, defending in several high-profile obscenity trials, including those concerning Lady Chatterley’s Lover and The Romans in Britain. He took Silk in 1961 and became a Bencher in 1967.

5. Sir John Astbury

Year of Call: 1884
Sir John Astbury won a total of three Scholarships in International & Constitutional Law and Real & Personal Property while studying at the Inn. He was appointed a High Court Judge in 1913 and retained close ties with the Inn, becoming a Bencher in 1903, Lent Reader in 1915 and Treasurer in 1925. By provision of his will, he established a Scholarship fund in his name, and students have been awarded Astbury Scholarships since 1960.