Sir Charles Henry Major (30 October 1860 – 31 August 1933) was a British judge, who served in various colonies around the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, as well as in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Biography

Born in

St Kitts Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...

, Major was the son of Charles Henry Major Sr., manager of the Colonial Bank of the West Indies, and Francis Frederica Clinckett, of Barbados. He was called to the bar at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

, and practised Law in the

Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...

from 1887. He was Chancellor of the

Diocese of Antigua The Anglican Diocese of North East Caribbean and Aruba was originally established in 1842 as the Diocese of Antigua and the Leeward Islands when the Anglican Diocese of Barbados, then with the Diocese of Jamaica, one of the two dioceses covering th ...

from 1889 to 1899, a member of the Legislative Council of Antigua from 1895 to 1899, and a member and President of the General Legislative Council of the Leeward Islands from 1896 to 1900. He served as a member of the Federal Executive Council of the Leeward Islands from 1897 to 1901, as Vice-President of the Legislative Council of Antigua from 1897 to 1899, and

Attorney General of Grenada Attorney General of Grenada is the chief law officer in Grenada. List of attorneys general of Grenada * ''Grenada became British colony, 1763'' * Hew Dalrymple * Edward Horne c.1770 * Sir George Staunton, 1st Baronet 1779–1784 * Sir Arthur Lea ...

from 1901 to 1902, when he transferred to

. He was appointed

Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific The Chief Justice of the High Commissioner's Court, more commonly known as the Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific, was the chief judicial officer throughout the British Western Pacific Territories from 1877 through 1976. This was ...

and

Chief Justice of Fiji The chief justice is Fiji's highest judicial officer. The office and its responsibilities are set out in Chapter 5 of the 2013 Constitution of Fiji. The Chief Justice is appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister Prime Minis ...

in September 1902, serving as such until 1914, then as Chief Justice of British Guiana from 1914 till his death in 1933. During his term as Chief Justice of Fiji, he was ''ex officio'' a member of the Legislative Council, and acted as

Governor of Fiji Fiji was a British Crown colony from 1874 to 1970, and an independent dominion in the Commonwealth from 1970 to 1987. During this period, the head of state was the British monarch, but in practice his or her functions were normally exercised loca ...

in an interim capacity from 1910 to 21 February 1911. He was given a knighthood in 1911 while serving as Chief Justice of Fiji.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Major, Charles Henry 1860 births 1933 deaths Members of the Middle Temple Governors of Fiji Colony of Fiji judges Knights Bachelor Chief justices of Fiji Chief Justices of British Guiana Members of the Legislative Council of Antigua Attorneys General of British Grenada Members of the General Legislative Council of the Leeward Islands Chief judicial commissioners for the Western Pacific People from the British West Indies