# Why was “Middle Temple” included in Churchill’s insulting remark about Gandhi? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2021, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-middle-temple-included-in-churchill-s-insulting-remark-about-gandhi/952572 "2021-10-15T23:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-middle-temple-included-in-churchill-s-insulting-remark-about-gandhi/952572/1 "2021-10-15T23:57:36Z")
“It is alarming and nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious **Middle Temple** lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the east, striding half naked up the steps of the viceregal palace, while he is still organising and conducting a campaign of civil disobedience, to parlay on equal terms with the representative of the Emperor-King.“ “Seditious” and “fakir” I get, but what is disparaging about the [Middle Temple](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Temple)? (BTW, I believe Richard Attenborough turned this insult on its head in the shot of tiny Ben Kingsley going up the vast steps of the palace in humble but sure triumph) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-middle-temple-included-in-churchill-s-insulting-remark-about-gandhi/952572/2 "2021-10-16T00:04:28Z")
Because Middle Temple lawyers were barristers, i.e., members of the British establishment. In other words, Churchill was calling Ghandi a poser. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-middle-temple-included-in-churchill-s-insulting-remark-about-gandhi/952572/3 "2021-10-16T00:12:05Z")
I would assume its either (or some combination of): A: He’s highlighting the fact this guy who is trying to impose his will on the great and the good of the British Raj is just a non-de-script middle-ranking lawyer of no consequence. B: He’s highlighting that is he’s not some aesthetic holyman aloof from the dirty business of everyday life, he’s a lawyer, as central to the dirty business of everyday life as you can get. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-middle-temple-included-in-churchill-s-insulting-remark-about-gandhi/952572/4 "2021-10-16T01:38:06Z")
For a little more context, Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court: > **[Inns of Court](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inns_of_Court)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. > All barristers must belong to one of them. They have supervisory and disciplinary functions over their members. The Inns also provide libraries, dining facilities and professional accommodation. Each also has a church or chapel attached to it and is a self-c... ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-middle-temple-included-in-churchill-s-insulting-remark-about-gandhi/952572/5 "2021-10-16T02:03:29Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Ghandi Its Gandhi > **[How to Spell Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi, Not "Ghandi")](http://www.markshep.com/peace/Spell.html)** > > Ummm. . . . How to spell Gandhi. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-middle-temple-included-in-churchill-s-insulting-remark-about-gandhi/952572/6 "2021-10-16T02:09:32Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > A: He’s highlighting the fact this guy who is trying to impose his will on the great and the good of the British Raj is just a non-de-script middle-ranking lawyer of no consequence. As **Askance** points out, “Middle Temple” is one of the four “Inns of Court” in London - something like a combination of a guild and an American bar association. The name comes from the physical location of its building, not from any sense that its barristers are “middling”. I’m pretty sure @Kent_Clark is right, Churchill was pointing out that Gandhi was a British barrister, called to the bar in one of London’s four Inns of Court\*, and thus a member of the British establishment, hence “seditious”. \*I’m probably bungling the correct terminology there. > [@griffin1977](#): > > B: He’s highlighting that is he’s not some aesthetic holyman aloof from the dirty business of everyday life, he’s a lawyer, as central to the dirty business of everyday life as you can get. And also this. It would be akin to pointing out in a U.S. context that someone who portrays themselves as a champion of the forgotten working class against the Eastern Establishment and the urban elite is actually a wealthy businessman from a wealthy, urban, Eastern Establishment family. Plus, it’s a demonstration by Churchill of his prodigious command of details, that he not only knows that Gandhi was called to the bar in one of the four Inns of Court, he knows off-hand which one. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-middle-temple-included-in-churchill-s-insulting-remark-about-gandhi/952572/7 "2021-10-16T03:47:46Z")
From Twitter (because I knew _somebody_ had to have made the comparison): > It’s simple. Middle Temple is Hufflepuff, Inner Temple is Gryffindor, Lincoln’s Inn is Ravenclaw and Gray’s Inn is Slytherin. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-middle-temple-included-in-churchill-s-insulting-remark-about-gandhi/952572/8 "2021-10-16T05:46:04Z")
A not quite exact analogy might be Roosevelt(?) calling Wendell Wilkie “a simple, barefoot Wall Street lawyer”.