Dame Frances Silvia Patterson, DBE (29 November 1954 – 20 December 2016), styled The Hon. Mrs Justice Patterson, was a judge of the High Court of England and Wales.[1]

Dame Frances Patterson
Patterson in 2012
Justice of the High Court
In office
2013–2016
MonarchElizabeth II
Personal details
Born29 November 1954
County Durham, England
Died20 December 2016(2016-12-20) (aged 62)
Spouse
Graham Nicholson
(m. 1980)
Children
  • Oliver
  • Leo
  • Simon
Alma materUniversity of Leicester

Born in County Durham, Patterson was educated at The Queen's School, Chester and the University of Leicester.[2][3]

Patterson was called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1977. Following a period as a Law Commissioner she was appointed to be a judge of the High Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division) on 1 October 2013.[4]

Patterson was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 18 February 2014.[5]

She died after a short illness on 20 December 2016, aged 62. Patterson was survived by her husband, Dr Graham Nicholson, and their three sons, Oliver, Leo and Simon.[6][7]

References edit

  1. ^ "Senior judiciary". Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  2. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  3. ^ ‘PATTERSON, Hon. Dame Frances Silvia’, Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014
  4. ^ "No. 60644". The London Gazette. 1 October 2013. p. 19289.
  5. ^ "No. 60791". The London Gazette. 25 February 2014. p. 3889.
  6. ^ Hume, Lucy, ed. (5 November 2016). Debrett's People of Today 2017. London: Debrett's. ISBN 978-0992934873.
  7. ^ "Death in service: Dame Frances Patterson". Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.