CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

John Balcombe

British judge

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ6220414
Source-derived summary

Sir Alfred John Balcombe, PC (29 September 1925 – 9 June 2000) was a Lord Justice of Appeal from 1985 to 1995.

Education

Balcombe attended Winchester College under a scholarship.

Career

He was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn, 1950 (Bencher, 1977; Treasurer, 1999); he practised at the Chancery Bar, 1951–77. He was appointed a QC in 1969. He was a Judge of the High Court of Justice, Family Division, 1977–85. He was a Judge of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, 1983–85.

He was a member of the Bar council, 1967–71.

He was knighted in 1977 and made a Privy Councillor in 1985.

Other positions held

Member, Steering Committee for Revenue, Tax Law Rewrite, 1997–98.

Chairman, London Marriage Guidance Council, 1982–88.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “John Balcombe” as british judge. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around John, Balcombe and British.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1925, 2000, 1985, 1995—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1925-09-29. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with John, Balcombe and British providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “John Balcombe”, the useful work is to connect “british judge” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6220414. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1925, 2000, 1985 and 1995.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John Balcombe”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John Balcombe primary sources, John Balcombe archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John Balcombe”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from John Balcombe” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.