Sir Henry Thomas Wrenfordsley (1825 – 2 June 1908) was an Irish

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and was the second Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court of Western Australia The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of A$750,00 ...

, which is the highest ranking court in the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

State State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

.T. S. Louch,
Wrenfordsley, Sir Henry Thomas (1825 - 1908)
, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, Melbourne University Press, 1976, pp 440-441. Retrieved 24 March 2010

Early life

Wrenfordsley was born in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, England, the son of Joseph Wrenfordsley (also known as Wrendfordsley, Wransfordsley and Wrenford Sly), an Irish solicitor, and his wife Louisa, ''née'' Bywater. Educated privately in France, he entered

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

(as Henry Wransfordsly) in March 1841 but did not obtain a degree. Wrenfordsley qualified as a solicitor, became a journeyman lawyer in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and at the English Bar,

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

on 30 April 1863, he was junior counsel for the Privy Council office in House of Commons inquiries into the foreign cattle market. In 1876 Wrenfordsley became a deputy-judge of County courts at Marylebone, Brompton and Brentford.

Career

Wrenfordsley later joined the colonial service and 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 ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

in 1877. Wrenfordsley was then appointed

Attorney General of Jamaica Attorney General of Jamaica is the chief law officer in Jamaica. Section 79(1) of the Constitution of Jamaica states that "there shall be an Attorney General who shall be the principal legal adviser to the Government of Jamaica" and pursuant to ...

, then on the death of Sir

Archibald Burt Sir Archibald Paull Burt QC (1 September 1810 – 21 November 1879) was a British lawyer, politician and judge. He grew up on the island of Saint Christopher in the West Indies, where both he and his father owned slaves. He studied law in Engla ...

in 1879, was made chief justice of Western Australia. He arrived there in the ''Bangalore'' on 5 March 1880 accompanied by a lady, probably his sister. Contemporary accounts suggest Wrenfordsley was given to frequent clashes of personality. One such clash with the Chief Secretary, Lord Gifford, in which he was supported by the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, Sir William Robinson led to Sir Henry's removal to the post of

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 Mi ...

. This ended a tumultuous three years for the state, although Sir Henry would return once more in 1890 as acting Chief Justice when his successor,

Sir Alexander Onslow Sir Alexander Campbell Onslow (17 July 1842 – 20 October 1908) was the third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of Western Australia. Onslow is a forebear of ...

took a one-year leave of absence. Wrenfordsley was acting governor of Western Australia from February to June 1883 when he was knighted. From March 1885 to February 1887 Wrenfordsley was an acting judge of the supreme court of

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, and took a similar position at Melbourne in 1888. In 1891 he was appointed temporary acting chief justice at Perth. Later in 1891 Wrenfordsley became chief justice of 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 ...

, and held the position until he retired in 1901 when he went to live in the south of France. Wrenfordsley died at

Antibes Antibes (, also , ; oc, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal, Antíbol) is a coastal city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department of southeastern France, on the French Riviera, Côte d'Azur between Cannes and Nice. The town of ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 2 June 1908.

References

* Bennett, J. M., Sir Henry Wrenfordsley - Second Chief Justice of Western Australia 1880-1883, The Federation Press, Sydney, 2004.

External links

Henry Thomas Wrenfordsley
by J.M Bennett at Google Books , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wrenfordsley, Henry Thomas 1825 births 1908 deaths Chief Justices of Western Australia Chief justices of Fiji British Mauritius judges British expatriates in Fiji Colony of Fiji judges Chief justices of the Leeward Islands Chief judicial commissioners for the Western Pacific Colony of Western Australia judges Judges of the Supreme Court of Western Australia 19th-century Australian judges

Early life

Career

See also

References

External links