Inner Temple
It is ruled by a governing council called "Parliament", made up of the Masters of the Bench (or "Benchers"), and led by the Treasurer, who is elected to serve a one-year term.
The First English Civil War's outbreak led to a complete suspension of legal education,[1] with the Inns close to being shut down for almost four years.
Following the English Restoration the Inner Templars welcomed Charles II back to London personally with a lavish banquet.
The Temple was sacked by Wat Tyler and his rebels during the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, with buildings pulled down and records destroyed.
[8] The Inns of Court were similarly attacked in Jack Cade's rebellion, although there are no specific records showing damage to the Inner Temple.
Following a Scotsman's request to purchase the land, the Inner and Middle Temples appealed to James I, who granted the land to a group of noted lawyers and Benchers, including Henry Montague and Sir Julius Caesar, and to "their heirs and assignees for ever" on the condition that the Inner and Middle Temples each paid him £10 a year.
[15] The play was partially documented by Gerard Legh in his Accedens of Armory, a book of heraldry woodcuts, which described Dudley's role as Prince Pallaphilos, the lieutenant of Athena and Patron of the Order of the Pegasus.
[8] Following the English Restoration, the Inner Temple welcomed Charles II back to London with a lavish banquet on 15 August 1661.
[20] During the rule of the House of Stuart, much was done by the Court of Star Chamber to enforce religious edicts against Catholicism within the Inner Temple.
The students took his sword and forced him to spend the night in a set of chambers; when he escaped and tried to return, they called the Trained Bands.
[22] The Mayor complained to the King, who heard the case on 7 April 1669 and decided to allow it to be determined by law rather than by his royal privilege; the lawyers returned to the principle that the Temple could set its own internal rules on the right to carry swords.
The Benchers of the time were described as "opposed to all modern fashions, including new-fangled comforts", with the Inn's buildings deteriorating.
[26] Much of the Temple was rebuilt during the 19th century, most noticeably the Hall and Library, although fever and disease continued as a result of the Inn's outdated systems; the same water was used both for drinking and for flushing the toilet, for example.
[26] The Temple suffered massively during The Blitz in the Second World War, including attacks on 19 September and 26 September 1940, which destroyed the Library clocktower and the Hall respectively; on 10–11 May 1941 the Inn was hit by a series of incendiaries which destroyed the inside of Temple Church, the Hall, the Library and many sets of chambers.
[28] There was a further delay due to the Temple's choice of architect, Hubert Worthington, who was so slow that the Benchers ended up replacing him with his junior associate, T.W.
The chambers were the priority, with parts of King's Bench Walk finished in 1949,[29] and the final building (the Library) was opened on 21 April 1958.
[32] Mitre Court, which connects the Inner Temple area, Serjeant's Inn and Fleet Street, is occupied as barristers' chambers, residential flats and more recently, solicitors.
[37] Benchers, or Masters of the Bench, are elected members of the Parliament responsible for overseeing the estates, the Inn's finances and setting internal policy.
[40] It may alternately have come about because of the tiles in Temple Church, which show a knight on horseback with a shield and sword raised.
The Inner Temple is noted for its collection of silver and pewter plate,[45] described in the early 20th century as similar in value to that of Oxford or Cambridge University.
Further pieces were added over the next century, with Robert Bowes giving a silver gilt cup to Sir John Baker in 1552.
2 Crown Office Row, which was destroyed during the Second World War, and Thomas Coventry maintained a set of chambers there.
On 31 May 1679 orders were given to replace the west side with four new buildings three storeys high, which were funded by the Treasurer (Thomas Hanmer) and the tenants at the time, including Judge Jeffreys.
[60] The "paper" part of the name comes from the fact that they were built from timber, lath and plaster, a construction method known as "paperwork".
A rookery was established during the 18th century by Edward Northey, who brought a colony of crows from his estates in Epsom to fill it.
[68] Its replacement was a larger hall in the Gothic style, designed by Sydney Smirke, which was opened on 14 May 1870 by Princess Louise.
[49] The building was designed by Hubert Worthington and opened in 1955 as part of a complex involving the Hall, Library and Benchers' Chambers.
[78] The church was highly regarded during this period, with William the Marshal buried there and Henry III initially making plans before changing to Westminster Abbey.
This was followed with more repairs in 1845, which lowered the floor to its original height, removed ugly whitewash which had been added a century earlier and led to the discovery of a marble piscina at the east end.
Outside of the law and politics, members have included the writer and journalist Bertram Fletcher Robinson, poet Arthur Brooke, Admiral Francis Drake, dramatist W. S. Gilbert, the economist John Maynard Keynes, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan, Burma's first recorded archaeologist Taw Sein Ko, Herbert Broom legal scholar, and diplomat and Righteous among the Nations Prince Constantin Karadja.
