Sir Joshua Strange Williams (19 September 1837 – 22 December 1915) was a New Zealand lawyer, politician,

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judge and university chancellor.

Early life

Williams was born in

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, England in 1837, the eldest son of the late Joshua Williams,

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, author of treatises on the law relating to real and personal property and other works, by his marriage with Lucy, daughter of William Strange, of Upton. Williams was educated at Harrow and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, where he graduated B.A. (Chancellor's Medallist for legal studies, first class law tripos, third class mathematical tripos) in 1859, M.A. in 1862, and LL.M. in 1870. Williams entered at

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in January 1857, and was called to the English Bar in November 1859.

New Zealand

He arrived in

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, New Zealand in 1861 on the ''Derwentwater'', moved to

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almost immediately, and in the following year went into partnership with

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, then provincial solicitor, an office which he himself subsequently held for several years. Williams sat in the

Canterbury Provincial Council The Canterbury Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. Its capital was Christchurch. History Canterbury was founded in December 1850 by the Canterbury Association of influential Eng ...

representing the Heathcote electorate in 1862 and 1863 and from 1866 to 1871. He was on the provincial executive council in 1863, in 1866, and in 1867–1868. On 9 July 1873 at the first meeting of the Board of Governors of the Canterbury College, he was voted chairman after Charles Bowen had declined the role in advance of the meeting. Williams held the chairmanship until 1875, when he moved to Otago. In January 1871 he gave up practice and was land registrar of the Canterbury district until 1872 and Registrar-General of Land for the whole of New Zealand from the latter year until 1875, in which year he was appointed puisne judge for

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

. He was created a

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in the

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. He married first, in 1864, Catherine Helen, daughter of Thomas Sanctuary, of

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

, Sussex; and secondly, in 1877, Amelia Durant, daughter of John Wesley Jago, of Dunedin.

Arms

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Joshua Strange 1837 births 1915 deaths Lawyers from London 19th-century New Zealand lawyers English emigrants to New Zealand Members of the Canterbury Provincial Council High Court of New Zealand judges People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Chancellors of the University of Canterbury Members of Canterbury provincial executive councils Colony of New Zealand judges New Zealand members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council 19th-century English lawyers Chancellors of the University of Otago