Sir Gervais Squire Chittick Rentoul KC (1 August 1884 – 7 March 1946) was a British Conservative politician, barrister, magistrate and judge.
Biography He was the eldest son of Judge James Alexander Rentoul, M.P. for East Down 1890–1902, and his wife, Florence Isabella Young. James Rentoul was something of an eccentric and one contemporary newspaper reported of him that "no man, woman or child wished to see him return to East Down."
He was born in Plumstead and educated at the City of London School, the Royal University of Ireland and Christ Church, Oxford, where he obtained first class honours in Jurisprudence and was President of the Oxford Union Society.Who's Who 1938.
While at Oxford he was active in the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS). Among the stage roles he played was AngeloReview, The Times, 23 February 1906. in Measure for Measure (1906)This is My Case and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew (1907), a production including the professional actresses Lily Brayton as Katherine and her real-life sister Agnes as her character's sister, Bianca.Review, The Times, 7 February 1907. After leaving Oxford he acted with the Old Stagers along with fellow barrister and OUDS alumnus C.W.Mercer, who subsequently acted as his best man.
In 1912, he married Christian Muriel Smart (b. 1884); they had one daughter, Sylvia (b. 1916) Free BMD who married Ferenc Gallo. In 1924, he was Master of the Guild of Freemen of the City of London.List of Past Masters, guild-freemen-london.co.uk. Accessed 8 January 2023.
He was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Lowestoft in the 1922 United Kingdom general election. He was founding chairman of the 1922 Committee (1923–1932) and Parliamentary private secretary to the Attorney general (1925–1929). He became a barrister and took silk in 1930, becoming Recorder of Sandwich. He was knighted in 1929 and resigned from Parliament in 1934 on becoming a Metropolitan Police magistrate.
He was portrayed on television by Robin Sachs in the play The Root of all Evil (1981), an episode of the Granada Television series Lady Killers,The Root of All Evil, ftvdb.org.uk. Accessed 8 January 2023. a dramatisation of the Seddon murder case in 1912 in which Rentoul had appeared for the defence.
Selected publications Sometimes I Think (Hodder & Stoughton, 1940) This is My Case An Autobiography (Hutchinson, 1944)
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