Sir John Harry Barclay Nihill, (27 July 1892 – December 1975) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

lawyer and administrator who served throughout the

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Biography

He was born in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, Sussex in 1892. He was educated at

Felsted School (Keep your Faith) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Chris Townsend , r_head_l ...

and read history at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was president of Cambridge Union.The Nairobi Law Monthly, Kaibi Limited, 1987 He thereafter studied law and was called to the Bar at

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 ...

in 1914. He immediately thereafter enlisted in the military, and served in the

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during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. His civilian career began in 1919 as an Investigating Officer in the Industrial Council's Division of the Ministry of Labour. Between 1920 and 1921 he was Private Secretary to Sir William Edge, but left to enter the

Colonial Service The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...

and serve as a Cadet in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

.Great Britain. Colonial Office, The Colonial Administrative Service List, H. M. Stationery Office, 1934 He was appointed to the post of

Police Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

in Kowloon in 1926, and also acted as Assistant to the Attorney General and Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court there. Between 1927 and 1932 he served in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

as the Legal Secretary of the High Commissioner and in 1928 and 1931, in addition, he also functioned as Acting British Consul in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

.A. Ranjit B. Amerasinghe, The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka: the first 185 years, Sarvodaya Book Pub. Services, 1986 In 1934 he moved to

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

where he served as Solicitor-General and Acting

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 Acting Chief Justice. In 1936, he moved to British Guiana where he served as Attorney General until 1938. He was promoted to the post of

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 ...

in Ceylon in November 1938 and acted as Legal Secretary to the Government of Ceylon from 1942 to 1946. He succeeded Sir Joseph Sheridan as the

Chief Justice of Kenya The Chief Justice of Kenya is the head of the Judiciary of Kenya and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya and is an office established under Article 161 of the Kenyan Constitution. The Chief Justice is assisted by the Deputy Chief Justice w ...

in 1946 and was knighted in the 1948 King's New Year Honours. He was forced to retire from the post in 1951 when he was appointed President of the Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa, Aden and the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

. He retired from the colonial service in 1956, and later served on a part-time basis as Speaker of the then Tanganyika Legislative Assembly and back in

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on the Mental Health Appeals Council. He died in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in December 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nihill, John Harry Barclay 1892 births 1975 deaths 20th-century Kenyan judges Chief justices of Kenya Attorneys-General of British Guiana People educated at Felsted School Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge East African Court of Appeal judges British Hong Kong judges British Ceylon judges Puisne Justices of the Supreme Court of Ceylon Legal Secretary of Ceylon

Biography

See also

References