Lord Terence Etherton – the first openly gay judge to be made a Lord Justice of Appeal -has died, the head of the judiciary in England and Wales has said.
The Jewish crossbench peer and former Master of the Rolls died on Tuesday, aged 73, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said in a statement.
She continued: “Lord Etherton was an inspiring judge and leader, with a passionate commitment to access to justice, and a true friend to so many of us.”
Baroness Carr said thoughts were with Lord Etherton’s husband and family.
Etherton entered into a civil partnership in 2006 and in 2014, and after a change in the law, he and partner Andrew Stone were married in a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony at West London Synagogue.
There was a collective gasp of sorrow among peers as the Lord Speaker informed them of his death at the start of Wednesday’s proceedings in the upper chamber.
Speaking from the Woolsack, Lord McFall of Alcluith said: “On behalf of the House I extend our condolences to his family and friends.”
The expression of sympathy received a chorus of support from across the chamber.
Lord Terence Etherton was called to the bar in 1974 and became a QC in 1990.
He was made a Lord Justice of Appeal, following his appointment as a High Court judge in 2001.
When he joined the Court of Appeal in 2008, he said his appointment “shows that diversity in sexuality is not a bar to preferment up to the highest levels of the judiciary”.
He became Chancellor of the High Court in 2013 and was appointed Master of the Rolls – the second most senior judge in England and Wales – in 2016.
He was the third Jewish holder of the office in a row, succeeding Lord Dyson, who retires in October, and Lord Neuberger.
Lord Etherton, who studied history and law at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, was in the British sabre team from 1977 to 1980 and qualified for the 1980 summer Olympics in Moscow.
He was one of three judges branded “enemies of the people” in a newspaper headline after ruling that triggering Brexit needed parliamentary approval.
Following his retirement from the judiciary, Lord Etherton carried out an independent review into the service and experience of LGBT veterans who served in the armed forces between 1967 and 2000.
In the review published in July 2023, he made 49 recommendations to the Government, including making an “appropriate financial award” to affected veterans.
