John Charles Day

Who was John Charles Day?

Sir John Charles Frederick Sigismund Day, PC was amongst the first Catholic judges in England to be appointed after the English Reformation, the first being William Shee. He was also known as a collector of paintings, including several works by James McNeill Whistler.

Born at the Hague, son of Captain John Day and his wife Emilie, Day completed his schooling at Downside, and, as the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were at that time inaccessible to Catholics, obtained his BA from the University of London in November 1845.

He was admitted as a student in the Middle Temple in 1845, was called to the Bar, and became a judge in June 1882. He was well known for sentencing criminals to lashes. In his latter years, he would sometimes listen to cases with his eyes closed, listening intently, and opening an eye suddenly if something significant were said. Colleagues jocularly referred to this as "the peep of Day".

He was one of the judges who sat on the Parnell Commission.