Fought gay slurs after Brexit case

ONTHE face of it, as a senior judge and Master Of The Rolls, head of the civil judiciary in England and Wales, Lord Etherton was very much part of the British establishment. But in many other ways he was very anti-establishment.

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As the first openly gay senior judge, Etherton was a pioneer in confronting intolerant social attitudes and faced plenty of personal prejudice along the way.

He was born into a Jewish family who had emigrated from Russia in the late 19th century to escape violent pogroms.

Arriving in the East End of London, where they also encountered antisemitism, his paternal grandfather changed his name from Solle Borrenstein to Stanley Etherton.