Sir Malcolm William Searle QC (7 December 1855 – 9 June 1926) was a South African jurist and Judge President of the

Cape Provincial Division The Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa (previously named the Cape Provincial Division and the Western Cape High Court, and commonly known as the Cape High Court) is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over th ...

of the Supreme Court.

Early life

Searle was born in England, the son of Walter Searle and Margaret McIntyre and in 1861, as a young child, he emigrated with his parents to the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

, where his father became a prominent merchant in Cape Town. Searle received his schooling at the Diocesan College in Rondebosch. After obtaining his BA degree in 1875, he went to England and continued his studies at

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

. The following year, 1876, he joined 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 ...

. He was called to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in England during January 1882, after which he returned to Cape Town.

Career

Searle began practicing as an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

in the Cape at the end of 1882. In 1893 he became

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

and was also appointed legal adviser to the High Commissioner for Southern Africa, a position he held until 1900. He received his first appointment as an acting judge in 1894, when he served at the Eastern Districts Court. In 1910 he was appointed a judge in Cape Town. He became Judge President of the

in 1922 and held this post until his sudden death 1926. In 1923, he was knighted and in the same year, he was the presiding judge in the important treason trial of General

Manie Maritz Manie Maritz (1876–1940), also known as Gerrit Maritz, was a Boer officer during the Second Boer War and a leading rebel of the 1914 Maritz Rebellion. Early years Maritz was born in Kimberley, Northern Cape then in the British colony of the ...

, whom he convicted and sentenced to three years in prison. In the field of education, Searle was a member of the council of the

University of the Cape of Good Hope The University of the Cape of Good Hope, renamed the University of South Africa in 1916, was created when the Molteno government passed Act 16 of 1873 in the Cape of Good Hope Parliament. Modelled on the University of London, it offered examinati ...

, and its vice-chancellor from 1916 until 1918.

Personal life

Searle married Emma Jane St Leger in 1889 and they had six children. Their second son, Frederick St Leger Searle, also became a judge in the Cape Provincial Division in 1946. Searle was killed in the Salt River train disaster on 9 June 1926, when a train was derailed by a coupling lodged in the track. The rear cars broke away and two of them hit an overbridge killing 17 people.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Searle, Malcolm 1855 births 1926 deaths South African judges 20th-century South African judges South African Queen's Counsel Members of the Inner Temple South African Knights Bachelor Alumni of Diocesan College, Cape Town Cape Colony people