Sir Henry Cowper Gollan

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

KC (8 January 1868 – 5 August 1949) was a British lawyer and judge. He served as attorney general and chief justice of a number of British colonies in the early 20th century. His last position before retirement was as Chief Justice of Hong Kong.

Early life

Gollan was born on 8 January 1868 in Coquimbo, Chile. He was the son of Sir Alexander Gollan, K.C.M.G., a British diplomat. He was educated at Charterhouse School. He obtained his Master of Arts degree from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

in 1887 and was called to the bar by 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 ...

in January 1891. He joined the Northern Circuit and later practised in London. In 1899 he was appointed private secretary to Sir

Frederick Lugard Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945), known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong ...

. Lugard was made High Commissioner of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1900.

Legal appointments

In 1900, presumably on Lugard's recommendation, Gollan was appointed

attorney-general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

and later chief justice of Northern Nigeria in 1901. While in Northern Nigeria, he was instrumental in drafting a new criminal code based on the

Queensland Criminal Code ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. He wrote at the time: "The Queensland Code appeared to me to keep in a much more satisfactory manner than any of the other Codes I have mentioned the mean between over elaboration on the one hand and over compression on the other . . ." In 1904 he was appointed Chief Justice of Bermuda and in that capacity served as President of the Legislative Council. In Bermuda, he also worked on the development of a Criminal Code again modelled on the Queensland Code. In 1911, he was appointed Attorney-General of

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

and in 1918 the Attorney-General of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Gollan was appointed a King's Counsel twice, the first time in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

in 1911 and, the second time, in Ceylon in 1919. He was knighted in 1921 whilst attorney general of Ceylon. Shouson Chow, Justice John Wood and Chief Justice Henry Gollan

Shouson Chow, Justice John Wood and Chief Justice Henry Gollan

In 1924, he was appointed Chief Justice of Hong Kong replacing Sir William Rees-Davies. In that capacity he served on a Special Commission of Judges in Shanghai made up of Gollan, Justice Finley Johnson (presiding) of the Philippines and Justice Kisaburo Suga of the Hiroshima Court of Appeal to inquire into the killings of Chinese protesters on 30 May 1925 in Shanghai that triggered the

May 30 Movement The May Thirtieth Movement () was a major labor and anti-imperialist movement during the middle-period of the Republic of China era. It began when the Shanghai Municipal Police opened fire on Chinese protesters in Shanghai's International Settle ...

. From 1926, in his capacity as Chief Justice of Hong Kong, he also sat as a member of the

full court A full court (less formally, full bench) is a court of law sitting with a greater than normal number of judges. For a court which is usually presided over by one judge, a full court has three or more judges; for a court which, like many appellate ...

of the British Supreme Court for China in Shanghai.

Retirement

Gollan retired to England in 1930. On his retirement, he was granted an honorary Doctor of Laws by the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the f ...

. He died on 5 August 1949.Obituary. Law Journal, Vol 99 p446

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gollan, Henry Cowper 1868 births 1949 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh English civil servants 20th-century English judges British Hong Kong judges British Supreme Court for China judges English King's Counsel Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor Lawyers awarded knighthoods Members of the Middle Temple People educated at Charterhouse School 20th-century King's Counsel Attorneys General of British Ceylon Colonial Nigeria judges British expatriates in Nigeria British expatriates in Trinidad and Tobago Attorneys General of British Trinidad and Tobago Attorneys General of colonial Nigeria 19th-century English lawyers Members of the Legislative Council of Ceylon Chief justices of Bermuda