John Mellor

Who was John Mellor?

Sir John Mellor was an English judge and Member of Parliament. He was born in Hollinwood, Oldham and raised in Leicester, where his father was mayor and a Justice of the Peace.

As a young man, his Unitarian beliefs prevented him attending university. He entered law, becoming Queen's Counsel in 1833. Following failed attempts in 1852 and 1857 he was elected to Parliament to represent Great Yarmouth in 1857, and Nottingham in 1859. He was appointed to the Queen's Bench in 1861 and knighted in 1862.

Mellor was one of the two judges at the special commission set up in Manchester in 1867 to try those accused of the murder of Police Sergeant Charles Brett.

He was one of three judges at the 188-day long trial in 1873 of Arthur Orton, the Tichborne claimant. In his description of the case, James Beresford Atlay described him as 'second to none amongst the Common Law judges'. Hamilton notes he 'often amused the jury with his dry humour'.

He and his wife Elizabeth had eight children. He retired in 1879 and was raised to the Privy Council. He died at his London house in 1887 and was buried at Kingsdown, Kent.