Sir Robert Molesworth (3 November 1806 – 18 October 1890) was an Irish-born Australian Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria and Solicitor-General.

Early life

Molesworth was born 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 ...

, the only son of Hickman Blayney Molesworth, a solicitor, by his first wife, Wilhelmina Dorothea, daughter of Brindley Hone. Molesworth was descended from

Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth PC (Ire) (7 September 1656 – 22 May 1725) was an Anglo-Irish politician and writer. Molesworth came from an old Northamptonshire family. He married Hon. Letitia Coote, daughter of Richard Coote, 1st ...

. Robert attended

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 ...

where he graduated B.A. in 1826 and M.A. in 1833. After he was

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 ...

in 1828, he practised law until he emigrated to Australia in 1852. He married in 1840.

Legal and political career

After initially arriving in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

the Molesworths soon moved to Melbourne and he quickly established a large legal practice. On 27 January 1853 Molesworth was acting chief justice during the illness of Sir William à Beckett. Molesworth was acting Solicitor-General from 4 January 1854, and in that capacity was nominated to the Victorian Legislative Council, He was appointed to as Solicitor-General on 25 November 1855. The original Legislative Council was abolished in March 1856, however Molesworth remained Solicitor-General until 17 June 1856 when he was appointed a Supreme Court judge. Most of his time was presiding over equity cases. Molesworth was also chief judge of the Court of Mines, in this capacity he achieved much in settling the previously confused state of the law.

Late life

Molesworth was divorced from his wife in 1864. Reginald R. Sholl,
Molesworth, Sir Robert (1806 - 1890)
,

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

, Volume 5, MUP, 1974, pp 264–265. ''Molesworth v Molesworth'
(1862) 1 Wyatt and Webb's Reports (Victoria) Insolvency, Ecclesiastical & Matrimonial Cases 57

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

(Vic).''Molesworth v Molesworth and Ireland'
(1863) 2 Wyatt and Webb's Reports (Victoria) Insolvency, Ecclesiastical & Matrimonial Cases 139
Supreme Court (Full Court) (Vic). In 1875, he travelled in New Zealand with Hugh Finn; this was his only time out of the country since his initial arrival. He retired as a judge on 1 May 1886, being succeeded by George Webb, and died in Melbourne on 18 October 1890, he was buried in

Kew Cemetery Boroondara General Cemetery, often referred to as Kew cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Victoria, Australia, created in the tradition of the Victorian garden cemetery. The cemetery, located in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, is listed ...

. A married daughter and two sons survived him.

References

External links

* Additional resources listed by Australian Dictionary of Biography: *''Votes and Proceedings'' (Legislative Assembly, Victoria), 1864–65, 2 (C2) *''Victoria Government Gazette'' 1853, 1653; 1854, 37, 182, 1599; 1855, 3125; 1856, 1019; * ''The Argus'' (Melbourne), 18–23 November, 15–18, 26 December 1864, 20 October 1890. Additional resources listed by Dictionary of Australian Biography: *''The Argus'', Melbourne, 20 October 1890, 8 May 1886 *J. L. Forde, ''The Story of the Bar of Victoria'' *Nettie Palmer, ''Henry Bournes Higgins'', p. 79. {{DEFAULTSORT:Molesworth, Robert 1806 births 1890 deaths Australian people of Anglo-Irish descent Victoria (state) state politicians Judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Solicitors-General of Victoria Lawyers from Dublin (city) Irish emigrants to Australia Colony of Victoria judges 19th-century Australian politicians