I was honoured to be invited to make this tribute to Issy, my dear friend or as she would describe any communication between us while we had daughters at school together, a tribute ‘mum to mum’.
Issy was one of five children. She was brought up in Norfolk, where she went to school. A pupil in her class has reported that her only significant memory of Issy’s school days is that she was ‘very naughty’. This did not hold Issy back. She read jurisprudence at St Hugh’s, Oxford and thereafter decided to study for the Bar, apparently inspired during her childhood while reading trade magazines belonging to a neighbouring Police Inspector.
Her stated ambition was to become a combination of Marshall Hall and Mother Teresa.
Issy excelled at Bar School and was awarded an entrance scholarship by Middle Temple as well as another major scholarship. Issy supplemented her finances during her studies from her employment in the evenings as an usher at the Raymond Revue Bar in Soho, where the show involved entertainers swimming in a huge glass-fronted tank!
It was while Issy was at Bar School that she met a fellow student who became her beloved husband of more than 53 years, Nicholas, Nick as he is known to us all. They were married in 1971.
Issy broke the glass ceiling of Francis Taylor Buildings by being the first woman to be granted a tenancy in those chambers where she practised for 20 years, dealing with civil, criminal and family cases. It was during this period that Issy and Nick had three children, Tom, Tory and Flora.
In 1990, Issy was appointed a Registrar and District Judge sitting in the Principal Registry of the Family Division (PRFD) in Somerset House, heavily involved in implementing The Children Act 1989. You may be aware that The Children Act introduced the new fundamental principle of parental responsibility. I mention this slightly with my tongue in my cheek and because it amused Issy that she, Nick and my husband all swanned off to Australia to educate the Australian Family lawyers about parental responsibility, whilst wholly abdicating their own by leaving it to me to take Flora and our daughters, three nervous seven year olds, to their first day at their new big school.
In 2001, Issy was appointed a Circuit Judge, assigned to the South Eastern Circuit and the following year, a Deputy High Court Judge. In 2006, Issy became a Bencher of the Middle Temple.
Issy was accompanied on her journey from Bar School to retirement from the Bench by Nick, who also enjoyed a second career as a Circuit Judge. They spent their judicial careers living in East Anglia, where they became prominent members of their community.
Issy was the Designated Family Judge in Cambridgeshire and contributed to the training of judges for several years as a member of the Judicial Studies Board. She held various posts on the 650 strong Council of Circuit Judges, culminating in becoming President in 2013. In this role, she negotiated with Government Ministers on behalf of her colleagues and led a battle over new sentencing provisions in draft legislation.
When sitting as a District Judge early on in her career, Issy heard a case involving a financial claim made in divorce proceedings. She boldly decided that the husband’s pension fund arrangements could be varied so as to provide for his soon-to-be former wife. The case went through various appellate hearings, culminating in Issy’s decision being upheld by the House of Lords. Ultimately, legislation, the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999, introduced pension sharing on divorce, which in effect adopted Issy’s decision. This most significant reform changed the face of financial remedies on divorce, which was particularly important for women who had not been able during their working lives to combine family life with employment, providing substantial pension benefits.
In 2002, Issy chaired the NSPCC Working Party, which led to an important contribution to the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004.
Issy made her mark at every stage of her career and throughout her life. She was a force of nature, universally described as such in the many letters received by Nick and the family. Her energy, charisma, high intelligence and determination were greatly admired and respected.
Issy was a loyal person who lent her support to many people and causes. The Principal of St Hugh’s described Issy as a treasured member of the college community, remaining engaged and active to the very end. One of her fellow students at Oxford said of Issy, ‘she was not one to do things in halves, whether beer or anything else. She was much one for the principle of taking what she did seriously but not taking herself seriously’.
This may account for the laughter to be heard in the corridors of the courts where she was sitting.
Issy’s successful career at the Bar and on the Bench was the result not only of her hard work and high intellect but of her special personal qualities.
Issy was one of those rare people in a highly competitive professional world about whom you never hear a bad word. She was immensely liked. She was unpompous. She was able to relate to everyone in her practice at the Bar and on the Bench, for her innate sense of fairness and justice were her dominant considerations. She possessed not a shred of self-importance. In other words, she wore her distinction lightly. A member of the Bar came to her room when she was packing up her belongings, having been elevated to the Circuit Bench. He gave her a bottle of champagne. Issy’s response was, ‘don’t be daft’.
She was viewed as a very good Judge, caring about those troubled persons whose lives would be affected by her judgment and whose judgments were seldom wrong, although I am aware of an occasion when Issy bounced up to a Lord Justice of Appeal of my acquaintance (now retired), gave him a big kiss and then told him his judgment in a certain case was, and I dare not quote her precisely, ‘rubbish, complete and utter rubbish’ and went on her way. Apparently, the Court of Appeal had the temerity to reverse a decision of Her Honour Judge Plumstead.
Issy was never phased by the person with whom she had to deal, be it The Lord Chief Justice or a government minister. She has been described by a fellow judge as a person who speaks truth to power.
Sir Andrew Macfarlane, The President of the Family Division, described Issy as:
‘A remarkable individual who was in my view one of nature’s Judges. She had an enviable combination of high intellect, sound common sense and mature humanity. These attributes mixed with humour and robustness made for an ideal Family Judge.’
One of my colleagues’ memorable moments in court was when District Judge Plumstead addressed the husband, ‘Mr X, I don’t care who said what to whom, I am just here to divide up the lolly’.
Issy was a pioneer of women at the Bar and on the Bench. She showed how it was possible to develop a successful career whilst juggling the demands of family life. She was not just an icon but a role model for women in the law who admired her and aspired to her no-nonsense approach. She helped and promoted many, and was always available to give guidance and encouragement.
Issy’s sense of humour and good company made her the person you wanted to sit next to at dinner. In the days of her sitting as a District Judge, she was an instigator of the District Judges’ Non-Annual, Yearly Dinner. You may think the name of the dinner itself is very Issy. I understand the purpose of the dinner was to have an informal get-together once a year. Finding a date convenient to all was inevitably difficult. The process resulted in Issy earning the sobriquet ‘two parties Plumstead’ because, whatever the date, Issy always had another party to go on to afterwards. And she would have been the life and soul of both those parties.
Issy believed in having fun on all occasions. You could be certain of finding her on the Nursery Ground at Lords during the lunch interval of a Test match. She normally reserved the space of two blankets on the lawn because so many passing by would stop and stay, and, if the wine lasted, stay even until the tea break.
In her Who’s Who entry, Issy put her recreation as ‘gardening, gastronomy, gargling and snoozing’!
On Issy’s retirement, she threw herself with typical enthusiasm into the life of the village of Anmer, the Church, the social club and the King’s Lynn Night Shelter of which she was a trustee. She was a highly regarded and much-loved member of the community. At the same time, she loved being kept up to date with what was happening in the law, particularly in the family law world, and above all, enjoyed hearing the latest gossip.
One of her neighbours on the Sandringham Estate wrote to Nick as follows:
‘Having just heard the desperately (underlined) sad news that Issy had lost her incredibly courageous battle with that beastly cancer, I did so want you to know how deeply I feel for you at such an agonisingly difficult time for you and your family. I can only begin to imagine how much you will be suffering from the tragic and premature loss of someone so beloved’.
The neighbour is His Majesty, The King.
Having said all of that, what really mattered to Issy, above all else? Her family, her darling husband, Nick, her wonderful children, Tom, Tory and Flora and six grandchildren. Issy was extremely proud of her children, especially so when all three were in public service simultaneously: an army officer, a nurse and a government advisor.
The family was always at the centre of Issy’s life, and that was so throughout her years at the Bar and on the Bench. She defined herself not by her career but by being the best possible wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, and friend. And in all of those roles, she was outstanding as a barrister and a judge.
Issy was a special person. A one off. Simply the best. We miss her dreadfully, but she would want us to remember her with laughter and not with tears. So, mum to mum, my dear friend Issy, I say my farewell. Now rest in peace.
This is a written version of the address given by Lady Helen Ward at Master Isobel Plumstead’s Memorial Service
