Gwenllian Mair Prosser
Premium memorialLovingly known as “Gwen”
12 September 1946 — 27 May 2023 · aged 76
Cardiff Crown Court judge, Citizens Advice volunteer and second soprano for forty years
Cardiff, United Kingdom Born in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil Resting at Thornhill Crematorium, CardiffAbout Gwenllian
The usher at Cardiff Crown Court used to say you could tell what sort of morning it would be by the sound of Judge Prosser's heels in the corridor: quick and light meant the jury would be home before the rugby, slow and deliberate meant nobody was going anywhere until every document had been properly read.
Gwenllian, known always as Gwen, was born in Dowlais in 1946, the daughter of a school caretaker and a dinner lady. She won a place at the grammar school, then became the first in her family to go to university, reading law at University College Cardiff from 1964. She was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1968 and spent twenty years on the Wales and Chester Circuit, prosecuting and defending in courtrooms from Swansea to Mold, usually the only woman in the robing room.
She became a Recorder in 1989 and a Circuit Judge in 1996, sitting at Cardiff until 2016. Barristers learned that she disliked padding and loved precision; a long submission might be interrupted with a gentle 'Mr Rees, I think the jury has a bus to catch.' Defendants of every kind remembered her for the same thing: she explained, in plain words, exactly what was going to happen to them and why. In her room she kept a tin of Welsh cakes, and the staff knew that an open tin meant a hard case had finished.
Away from the bench she held a season ticket at the old Arms Park and then the Millennium Stadium, sang second soprano in a Cardiff choir for forty years. Widowed in 2012 when her husband David, an architect, died, she filled the quiet with her grandchildren and her friends. After retiring she volunteered two days a week at Citizens Advice in Cardiff, a former judge helping people understand a council tax bill, which she said was the best job she had ever had.
Gwen died at home in Pontcanna on 27 May 2023 after a short illness, with her family around her and a choir on the radio. She leaves her son Rhodri, her daughter Catrin, four grandchildren and a great many people who left her presence knowing exactly where they stood.
“Say what you mean, mean what you say, and always keep a tin of Welsh cakes.”
- Faith
- Christian
- Place of birth
- Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil
- Resting place
- Thornhill Crematorium, Cardiff
- Passed away
- 27 May 2023, Cardiff
Funeral Service
Monday, 5 June 2023 at 09:00 UTC
Add to calendarLife journey
LLB (Hons) in Law
University College Cardiff1964 – 1967 · Cardiff
The first in her family to attend university.
Called to the Bar
Gray's Inn1968 · London
One of very few women in her year on the Wales and Chester Circuit.
Barrister
Wales and Chester Circuit1968 – 1989 · Cardiff
Twenty years in courtrooms from Swansea to Mold.
Recorder of the Crown Court
Wales and Chester Circuit1989 – 1996 · Cardiff
Sat part-time while still at the Bar.
Volunteer adviser
Citizens Advice Cardiff2016 – 2023 · Cardiff
Two days a week helping with debt, benefits and housing letters.
Honorary Fellowship
Cardiff University2014 · Cardiff
For services to law and to the community of Cardiff.
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Family & connections
Gwenllian is survived by
- Rhodri Prosser· Son
- Catrin Jenkins· Daughter
- 4 grandchildren· Grandchildren
- Menna Thomas· Sister
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Gwenllian.
Knew Gwenllian? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- OC
Former pupil barrister, now in London
Pupillage was terrifying until she told me over lunch that she had been sick in the robing room before her first trial. 'The nerves never go,' she said. 'You just get better at carrying them.' I have repeated it to every pupil I have had since.
- TH
Childhood friend from Dowlais
We shared a desk at the grammar school and she corrected the spelling in the margins of my love letters. I told her she would end up a judge. She said she would settle for a good pension and a seat at the Arms Park. She got all three.
- DB
Volunteer colleague, Citizens Advice Cardiff
She came in on Tuesdays and Thursdays and took the hardest cases, saying she had earned the right. Our clients never knew she had been a judge. They just knew a kind woman with a Welsh cake in her handbag who read every letter twice.
- SH
Fellow alto in her choir
Forty years we stood side by side, and she always came in a beat early, which she maintained was a matter of judicial discretion. At the concert after she died, every one of us came in early. It sounded wonderful.
- MD
Court usher, Cardiff Crown Court
Twenty years I opened that door for her, and not once did she walk past without asking after my mother. When Mam went into the nursing home, a card arrived from chambers, signed in green ink. A card from a judge! We still have it on the mantelpiece.
- RK
Barrister who appeared before her for twenty years
She once stopped me mid-sentence and said, 'You have made your point, Mr Llewellyn, and it was a good one. Now stop making it worse.' I sat down. I won. She taught a generation of us that the best advocacy has a full stop.