With the warm support of Stuart’s widow, Professor Beverley Glover, and their family, Queens' endowed a Fellowship in honour of our late friend and colleague, to sit alongside those of Sir Arthur Armitage and Sir Derek Bowett.
The Governing Body wishes to thank the 64 generous donors who have contributed the £600,000 required to complete this Fellowship. Any donations that take us over this target endowment could mean that some cash spend is provided for the first year, so it can start to make a difference immediately, rather than waiting for the interest to accrue on the funds in the first year.
Professor Glover writes:
“Stuart was a committed family man - two sons and two daughters. He had an abiding and very wide love of music, being particularly committed to the works of Bruce Springsteen and to a variety of classical composers - he was working towards his Grade 8 piano exam. He loved birds, birdwatching and all nature. He was very fond of hills: for our first wedding anniversary we tackled Scafell Pike, Helvellyn and Schiehallion over five days - which sounds impressive until I tell you that vertigo defeated him on Helvellyn and an August Bank Holiday snowstorm defeated us both on Schiehallion!
And he read…there was an endless search for the greatest American novel (he loved Phillip Roth); he'd read anything except sci-fi and, before children, we used to read the Booker longlist together before the shortlist was announced, in an effort to pick the winner. One of my small comforts is that he finished the last Hilary Mantel novel just before he died - he'd have been so cross not to get to the end."
College days: Stuart was fiercely proud of his Leeds background. From there, he stormed the cloisters of Queens’ College in his modest, understated way: Entrance Exhibition, Foundation Scholarship, Joshua King Prize, the top First in the University Law Tripos in 1980. He played 1st XI football, captained the 2nd XI and remained a committed Leeds United fan through thick and thin.
Fellow of Queens’: Stuart was variously a Fellow, Director of Studies, Tutor and Admissions Tutor in a commitment to Queens’ lasting from the early 1980s. Stuart was also a barrister and held a University Lectureship from 1990-2012, when he became a Life Fellow.
The Law: Stuart’s wider commitment to public service was embodied by seven years as a Law Commissioner (responsible for family, property and trust law reform), as a Recorder from 2004 and as a Circuit Judge from 2012 (latterly in Cambridge). He also sat in the Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal. People have said of him: “he was loved, not just respected and adored” and that “he was the perfect Judge, without any sense of judgitus”.
The Fellowship: This will be named in perpetuity and help ensure that close supervision of Law students will continue at Queens’. There are about eight undergraduates in each year and four Law Fellows. There is a thriving postgraduate community of LLM students and other researchers continuing the College’s proud reputation as a centre for legal studies.
An endowment of £600,000 will produce an annual amount to cover the cost to the College of a senior University Teaching Officer from the Faculty of Law teaching at Queens’. We aim to complete the Fund before the start of the 2021/22 academic year. There will be a commemorative dinner for donors with Stuart’s family and Law Fellows when possible.
Notes:
• All donors will appear in the annual Gifts List. Please contact us if you would like your gift to be anonymous.
• Donors who give £10,000 or more will be invited to the Commemoration & Ceremony of Benefactors and Feast for three years following their gift.
• US taxpayers can donate tax-efficiently through Cambridge in America.
• Please note that unless you indicate otherwise, we have to assume that your donation is for the Unrestricted Fund.
For further information about supporting The Stuart Bridge Fellowship in Law, please contact the Alumni & Development Office at development@queens.cam.ac.uk or 01223 331944.
To make an donation online, please follow this link and choose the Stuart Bridge Fellowship from the drop down menu