Obituary: Biddy MacFarlane

Biddy Macfarlane was the first woman in England and Wales to be appointed a county court registrar (now known as district judge) and the first female – and first solicitor – to be appointed Master of the Court of Protection. She was born Anne Bridget Griffith on 26 January 1930, the fifth of six children born to Dr David Griffith, a dentist, and Dr Grace Griffith, a physician.

Though born in London, she was brought up near Sudbury, Suffolk where she acquired an encyclopaedic knowledge of flora and fauna. In 1940, during Britain’s darkest hour, she was evacuated with two of her sisters to the US and remained there until November 1944. She attended nine schools during her childhood. In 1949, she began reading law at Bristol University where she met her future husband, James Douglas Macfarlane (known as ‘Mac’). After obtaining an LLB degree in 1952, she became an articled clerk with Veale & Co Solicitors, Bristol. In 1954, she passed the Law Society finals and was admitted as a solicitor. For the next twelve years, she was an assistant solicitor with firms in Bristol, Greenwich, and Peckham, apart from a brief spell between 1957 and 1960 when she practised as a sole practitioner. In 1966, she joined the civil service as a legal assistant at the Land Registry, later becoming an assistant land registrar. Having occasionally sat as a deputy registrar in the county court, she applied several times to the Lord Chancellor’s department for a fulltime appointment as a county court registrar, only to be politely rebuffed by Lord Chancellor Lord Hailsham – who didn’t feel the country was ready yet for a woman to hold such a position.

Her perseverance paid off and she was appointed as a registrar in 1975, sitting at Bromley, Bow and Ilford county courts before being permanently based in Bromley. When she was appointed the first female Master of the Court of Protection in 1982, she decided that it would be more decorous to retain the title of Master, even though it was gender-specific, than to be called The Mistress. Soon after she became the Master, the Court of Protection entered a phase of unprecedented change with the Mental Health Act 1983; then the Enduring Powers of Attorney Act 1985; and finally the Public Trustee and Administration of Funds Act 1986 (which created the Public Trust Office to operate as the court’s administrative arm). Biddy also broke the mould by behaving differently from the stereotypical judge.

She loved a good party and shocked her predecessor at the Court of Protection, Master Armstrong, by turning up at her first office Christmas party dressed as a Christmas tree. She usually took charge of making the punch but her preferred tipple was a pint of bitter. From its launch in 1988, she wore a clown’s nose on Red Nose Day – but never at a hearing. She had the common touch, which was greatly appreciated by patients and their families, practitioners and the court’s staff. She could have remained in office until 2002, but chose to stand down in 1995 when she was 65, to spend more time with her husband, Mac, who had recently retired (he died unexpectedly in February 1999 aged 68). Biddy was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2010. Three years later, when independent living was becoming increasingly difficult, she checked in at Morden College, Blackheath which enabled her to continue pursuing her interests and an active social life – and provided residential and nursing care when required. One of the downsides of downsizing was that she had to dispose of her superb collection of Victorian tiles, which she had enjoyed accumulating over five decades.

Biddy was admitted to Lewisham Hospital on 12 November 2019 and died of pneumonia on 24 November, two months shy of her 90th birthday. Her funeral was attended by more than 200 people including family, friends and former colleagues. She is survived by her daughters, Jessica and Deborah, and her grandchildren, Hannah and Sam.

Denzil Lush is a retired senior judge at the Court of Protection