Sir Alan James Mansfield, (30 September 1902 – 17 July 1980) was an Australian barrister, judge, and the 18th

Governor of Queensland The governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of Queensland of the monarch of Australia. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governor performs constitutional and ceremonial func ...

, serving from 1966 until 1972.

Early life

Mansfield was born on 20 September 1902 in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Queensland, where his family had land in Gumdale. He lived in the Mount Gravatt area for many years. Sir James Mansfield was his great-great-grandfather. He was educated at the

Anglican Church Grammar School The Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), formerly the Church of England Grammar School and commonly referred to as Churchie, is an independent, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, Day school, day and boarding school for boys, located in East ...

in Brisbane, before winning a scholarship to the Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore). He attended university at St Paul's College,

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

Judicial career

Mansfield was appointed as a

Puisne Judge A puisne judge or puisne justice (; from french: puisné or ; , 'since, later' + , 'born', i.e. 'junior') is a dated term for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. Use The term is used almost exclusively in common law ...

on the

Supreme Court of Queensland The Supreme Court of Queensland is the highest court in the Australian State of Queensland. It was formerly the Brisbane Supreme Court, in the colony of Queensland. The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court allows its trial division to he ...

on 17 May 1940. He served with distinction in that capacity until he was made a Senior Puisne Judge on 20 March 1947. As a Senior Puisne Judge, he served until 8 February 1956 when he was promoted to the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland. He served as Chief Justice from 9 February 1956 until his retirement on 21 February 1966.

Vice-regal career

During his time as Chief Judge, Mansfield was Lieutenant-Governor of Queensland on several occasions. He was appointed

in 1966. He served in this position until 1972. Mansfield was a freemason. During his term as governor, he was also Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Queensland.

Other professional achievements

When Mansfield first became a lawyer, he went to represent Australia on the

International Military Tribunal for the Far East The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial or the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on April 29, 1946 to try leaders of the Empire of Japan for crimes against peace, conve ...

for the United Nations War Crimes Commission. In 1966, in addition to his other duties, Mansfield was also appointed Chancellor of the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = ...

Honours

*In 1958 he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG). *The suburb of

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market t ...

in the city of

is named after him.

References