Sir John Alexander Strachey Bucknill KC (14 September 1873 – 6 October 1926) was a British lawyer and Judge. He served as

Attorney General of Hong Kong The Secretary for Justice () is the head of the Department of Justice (Hong Kong), Hong Kong Department of Justice, the chief legal advisor to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, and the chief law enforcement officer of the Government of Hong Ko ...

Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements The chief justice of Singapore is the presiding member of the Supreme Court of Singapore. It is the highest post in the judicial system of Singapore, appointed by the president, chosen from the candidates recommended by the prime minister. The in ...

and

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 ...

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

, India.

Early life

Bucknill was born in

Clifton, Bristol Clifton is both a suburb of Bristol, England, and the name of one of the city's thirty-five council wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells. The eastern part of the suburb lies within the ward of Clifton Do ...

, England on 14 September 1873. He was the son of Sir

Thomas Townsend Bucknill Sir Thomas Townsend Bucknill (18 April 1845 – 4 October 1915) was an English judge of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, a Member of Parliament and a Privy Councillor.Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition Biography 'Tommy' Bucknill was ...

a Justice of the High Court in England.Unless otherwise noted, biographical details from Ibis, Volume 69, Issue 1, pages 139–145, January 1927 His younger half-brother was Sir

Alfred Townsend Bucknill Sir Alfred Townsend Bucknill, OBE, PC (19 December 1880 – 22 December 1963), was an English judge and a Privy Councillor. Specialising in maritime law, he presided over a number of boards of enquiry into naval events during the Second World Wa ...

(1880–1963), who became a High Court Judge in England and in 1945 was appointed a

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. Bucknill was educated at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

and

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...

, Oxford where he took honours in the Natural Science School. He was called to the Bar at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1896 and practiced on the Midland Circuit until 1902. In 1901 Bucknill married Alice, youngest daughter of Admiral Sir

George Henry Richards Sir George Henry Richards (13 January 1820 –14 November 1896) was Hydrographer of the Royal Navy from 1863 to 1874. Biography Richards was born in Antony, Cornwall, the son of Captain G. S. Richards, and joined the Royal Navy in 1832. ...

FRS. They had three daughters, Mary Alice Hare (born 1902 Epsom), Honor Bell (born 1904) and Elizabeth (born 1909).Profile of Sir Thomas Bucknill
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Legal appointments

In 1902, just after the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

, Bucknill was appointed Commissioner of Patents in the newly established

Transvaal Colony The Transvaal Colony () was the name used to refer to the Transvaal region during the period of direct British rule and military occupation between the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 when the South African Republic was dissolved, and the ...

and also served on the legislature. In 1907 he was appointed King's Advocate in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

. From 1912 to 1914 he served as

. He was appointed a

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in 1913 while in Hong Kong. Bucknill was appointed

in 1914 and served in that position until 1920. In Singapore he was Chairman of the committee to arrange for the celebration of the Centenary of Sir

Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is ...

and was also Chairman of the Raffles Museum and Library Committee. In 1920, "somewhat to the surprise of his friends" Bucknill resigned as Chief Justice to accept a position as

on the

Patna High Court The Patna High Court is the High Court of the state of Bihar. It was established on 9 February 1916 and later affiliated under the Government of India Act 1915. The court is based in Patna, the administrative capital of the state of Bihar, ...

, India. Bucknill, in a ceremony to farewell him in the Singapore Supreme Court, said that he was sorry to go, but "the pay and possibilities in India are so much greater than anything which obtains in Colonial service that it is impracticable for me, with my family responsibilities, to refuse the new position offered to me."''The Straits Times'', 2 October 1920, p10

Personal interests

Bucknill was a keen

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

and

lepidopterist Lepidopterology ()) is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian. Origins Post-Renaissance, t ...

. In 1900, he published ''The Birds of Surrey''. During his later years, he wrote books on the birds of Cyprus and Singapore and other books on coins. He also became president of the Numismatic Society of India.

Death

Bucknill died in office at his home in Patna on 6 October 1926. He was 53 years old.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bucknill, John Alexander Strachey 1873 births 1926 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School Attorneys General of Hong Kong British India judges Chief Justices of the Straits Settlements English civil servants Hong Kong Queen's Counsel Transvaal Colony people British Cyprus people People of British Hong Kong Knights Bachelor Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Members of the Inner Temple