John Sankey, 1st Viscount Sankey (Q61480)

Viscount Sankey was a judge, Chancellor of the Diocese of Llandaff, a Lord Justice of Appeal, and Lord Chancellor. He was born in Moreton-in-Marsh on 26 October 1866 the eldest of four children. After his father died his mother moved the family to Cardiff. After attending the local Church of England School, Sankey was sent to Lancing College in West Sussex before matriculating at Jesus College, Oxford. He was called to the bar by the Middle Temple in 1892, was appointed to the King's Bench in 1914, was made Lord Justice of Appeal in 1928 and was Lord Chancellor from 1929 to 1935. Regarding the Church, Viscount Sankey was Chancellor of Llandaff between 1909 and 1914. He was appointed to draft the new Constitution for the Church in Wales with the assistance of Lord Atkin and Sir John Eldon Bankes, and to draft the Schemes for the Governing Body and the Representative Body. He also had to present these drafts before the Governing Body and win its approval at the Convention of the Church in Wales in 1917. He was also involved with the Commutation Calculations and with drafting a scheme for Ecclesiastical Courts. The Welsh Church Act, which made the disestablishment of the Church in Wales possible, was passed in 1914 and came into force in March 1920. Previous to the passing of the Act there had been much debate, both in writing and in speeches, about the prospect of disestablishment and disendowment. After the Act was passed the process of disestablishment could take place but the enforcement of the Act was delayed by the Great War. The work of amending the constitution and the schemes for the Representative Body and the Governing Body (of which he was made a life member) continued after 1920 and Viscount Sankey was also involved in various disputes, in the organization of livings, benefactions and stipends, and in answering questions arising from the disestablishment. He died in February 1948 and the Church in Wales was one of the beneficiaries of his will.