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George Henry Emmott MA LLM (1855-1916)[i] was born on the 28th September 1855. His mother was Hannah Barlow. His father was Thomas Emmott JP, a cotton manufacturer who resided in Brookfield, Oldham and then Anchorsholme, Poulton-le-Fylde. George’s brother Alfred Emmott was prominent in politics as a Liberal MP who once beat a young Winston Churchill in a Parliamentary election. In due course, Alfred Emmott was created a peer.[ii]
Meanwhile, George Emmott married Elizabeth Braithwaite on the 24th August 1881. She was the fourth daughter of Joseph Bevan Braithwaite, a barrister. Together, Emmott and Elizabeth had three daughters and two sons. In relation to the children records show that Mary King Emmott was born at Holly Bank, Wilmslow, on the 22nd October, 1882. Her sister Hannah Emmott was born at Holly Bank, Wilmslow, on the 30th December, 1883. Their brother George Bevan Emmott was born at Holly Bank, Wilmslow, on the 1st January, 1885. Unfortunately, he died at Birkenhead, 22nd February, 1906. Currently, nothing is known of the other two children.
Education and the Bar
Emmott was first educated at Owen’s College, Manchester. He graduated with a University of London LL.B. in 1874. He then went on to read for a law degree at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Emmott did well. He was a Foundation Scholar and twice Law Prizeman. He graduated with a first-class B.A. in 1878 and a LL.B. in 1879.
Emmott was admitted to the Inner Temple on the 3rd November 1876. He was then subsequently called to the Bar by the Inner Temple on the 25th June 1879. Emmott then obtained a place in chambers at Temple Chambers, 4 St James Square, Manchester. He kept this affiliation from 1881 to 1892. His practice address then moved to 13 Union Court, Liverpool, from 1898 to 1900 and then 10 Cook Street, Liverpool, from 1901-1916. In terms of practice area Emmott was an equity draftsman and conveyancer practicing in the Lancashire Chancery Court.
Academic Career
Emmott’s academic career began in Manchester. He was appointed a Lecturer in Roman and English Law at the Owen’s College, Manchester in 1880. He held this post until 1885. He was then appointed to a lectureship at the Birmingham Law Society.[iii]
There was then an American phase to Emmott’s career. Emmott was appointed an Associate Professor of Logic and Ethics and lecturer in Roman Law at the John Hopkins University in Baltimore in 1885.[iv] He held this post until 1892.
In 1892 Emmott was appointed as the Professor of Roman Law and Comparative Jurisprudence at Columbia University, Washington, DC. He held this post until 1896. During this American phase of his career Emmott was Honorary Secretary to the Board of University Studies, from 1887 to 1896.
Emmott then returned to England, and the North-West. He was appointed to the Queen Victoria Chair in English Law at the University of Liverpool in 1896. He was the second holder of the post, having taken over from Professor Edward Jenks who had left to take up the Readership in English law at the University of Oxford in 1896. Emmott also served as Dean of the Faculty of Law from 1903. He was also the Secretary of the Departmental Board of Law, Victoria University, 1901–1903 and representative of the Faculty of Law on the Council of the University of Liverpool from 1903 to 1905 and 1907 to 1913.
During the course of his appointment there seems to have been a difference of opinion about the length of tenure that Emmott would have as the Queen Victoria Chair in English Law. Correspondence in the University of Liverpool’s Special Collections and Archive shows that the Liverpool Board of Legal Studies wanted to restrict the position to a term of seven years.[v] This was presumably to guard against having an incumbent who was not performing properly. In contrast Emmott seems to have thought that the post was going to be for life.[vi] This “misunderstanding” was eventually resolved in the Board’s favour.
Some insight into Emmott’s thoughts on legal education can be gleaned from his 1896 article on ‘Legal Education in England.’[vii] At this point, Emmott had been teaching for about sixteen years. Emmott published the paper in 1896 when he was at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The paper focuses on the “importance of providing a thoroughly systematic and scientific course of legal study”[viii] something that Emmott argued was happening in English Universities, despite article comment to the contrary. Emmott also uses the article to draw attention to the excellent teaching of English law that he had witnessed in American Universities. After outlining the way in which law is taught at both Oxford and Cambridge, Emmott highlights the importance of Roman law and legal history in the respective lectures and syllabus at the two Universities. Emmott seems to be in favour of this approach when he notes, “The effect of this training upon successive generations of English Lawyers…in my opinion…is impossible to over-estimate…”[ix] Emmott concludes his paper with the following rallying cry:
“If we can show that the study of Law, when rightly pursued is liberalising and not a purely technical study, that it is one calculated to call into exercise the higher powers and capacities of the human mind, that it is capable of that historical and comparative treatment which is the glory of modern science, we shall in that way have proved its claims to a high rank in the curriculum of university studies and shall, I believe, have done a service not only to the profession to which we are all proud to belong, but also society at large.”[x]
Searches of the British Library and key databases, including JSTOR and Hein Online, do not reveal whether Emmott wrote anything other than this piece. Investigations continue.
There is a surviving image of Emmott. He is dressed in his academic robes.[xi] The photograph now resides in the Sheridan Library at the John Hopkins University. It measures 30.1 x 47.4 cm and was taken by Gado on the 1st January 1908.
Emmott had a number of Liverpool addresses when he was located in the city, in addition to the University of Liverpool. He also kept chambers at 10 Cook Street, Liverpool, and resided at 64 Park Road West, Birkenhead, and Oakdene, Park Road West, Birkenhead. To contact Emmott by telephone would simply require a call to 4866 Bank.
Emmott died on the 8th March 1916 aged just sixty. The New York Times reported this unhappy event on March 11th 1916 as “GEORGE H. EMMOTT DEAD; Dean of Law Faculty of the University of Liverpool.”[xii] The short piece is really a small obituary. The sub-heading reads, “Liverpool, March 11 – the death of George Henry Emmott, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Liverpool since 1903, is announced.”[xiii]
Emmott is interesting because of his American teaching experience and his University work as the second Queen Victoria Chair in English Law. What is curious about Emmott is that he seems to have published relatively few pieces. Surviving records are very scant when it comes to his publications.
Author: Dr John Tribe (August 2023)
References
[i] See further: Emmott, George Henry, (28 Sept. 1855–8 March 1916), Queen Victoria Professor of Law, University of Liverpool, since 1896, and Dean of the Faculty of Law, since 1903; Barrister, Inner Temple. Who's Who & Who Was Who. 2007.
[ii] On who see further: Singleton, J. Emmott, Alfred, Baron Emmott (1858–1926), politician and cotton manufacturer. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008.
[iii] Foster, J. Men-at-the-bar: a biographical hand-list of the members of the various Inns of court, including Her Majesty's judges, etc. Reeves and Turner, London, 1885.
[iv] On his appointment see: Johns Hopkins University. (1892, Jun 12). New York Times.
[v] See: Correspondence from Cameron, Duguid & Co, dated 11th February 1909, in: University of Liverpool Special Collections and Archives. Ref: 6A/2/4/Law School Correspondence.
[vi] See: Correspondence from Professor George Emmott at Grosvenor House, Claughton, Birkenhead, to the Vice-Chancellor, dated 2nd December 1908, in: University of Liverpool Special Collections and Archives. Ref: 6A/2/4/Law School Correspondence.
[vii] Emmott, G. Legal Education in England (1896) Annual Report of the American Bar Association, Vol. 19, pp. 605-618. Hereafter Emmott.
[viii] Emmott, p.605.
[ix] Emmott, p.612.
[x] Emmott, p.617.
[xi] See further: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-full-length-standing-portrait-of-scholar-and-professor-of-logic-and-148067091.html?imageid=D2AFDE5A-9AE6-4A38-A201-D9692D61E3BC&p=457836&pn=1&searchId=6bf156870a2be3a1fd70b24a29b6e946&searchtype=0 See also: https://www.alamy.com/photographic-pedigree-of-the-descendants-of-isaac-and-rachel-wilson-1904-1908-elizabeth-braithwaite-born-at-65-mornington-road-london-on-24thjuly-1858-married-at-friends-meeting-house-westminster-on-24thaugust-1881-george-henry-emmott-son-of-thomas-emmott-andhis-wife-hannah-barlow-he-was-born-at-oldham-on-28th-september1855-educated-at-owens-college-imanchester-and-trinity-hall-cam-bridge-first-class-law-tripos-ma-llm-barrister-at-law-professorat-the-john-hopkins-uni-ersity-of-baltimore-1885-1896-lecturer-atcolumbia-university-washington-1892-1896-queen-vic-image342882629.html
[xii] The New York Times, March 11, 1916, p.11.
[xiii] Ibid.
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