William Henry Langdon (September 25, 1873 – August 10, 1939) was an American banker, lawyer and Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court from January 4, 1927, to August 10, 1939.

Education and early career

Langdon was born near Dublin, Alameda County, California, to Irish immigrants William and Annie Langdon. Following the death of Langdon's father in 1875, his mother ran a cattle and wheat ranch. Langdon was educated in the public schools and Hayward High School. He graduated from the California State Normal School to become a teacher, while also studying law in the offices of future Supreme Court Justice

John E. Richards John Evan Richards (July 7, 1856 – June 25, 1932) was an American attorney who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California, California Supreme Court from 1924 until 1932. Biography Richards was born on July 7, 1856, t ...

. In 1896, Langdon was admitted to the state Bar. Langdon served as vice principal and principal at schools in San Leandro, Fresno, and San Francisco, eventually becoming the city's school superintendent in 1902.

Legal and judicial career

In November 1905, city voters elected Langdon as district attorney of San Francisco, and in 1907 re-elected him to a second term. A popular district attorney, Langdon was nominated by the Independence League as its choice for governor in the 1906 elections. Langdon's presence as a strong third party candidacy won over 14 percent of the vote, proving to be a spoiler vote in a tight race between Democrat

Theodore A. Bell Theodore Arlington Bell (July 25, 1872 – September 4, 1922) was an American politician who served one term as a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Congressman from California from 1903 to 1905. Biography Born in Vallejo, California o ...

and Republican James Gillett. In 1907, one year after the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake, Langdon carried out the successful prosecutions both of Mayor Eugene Schmitz and political machine operator Abe Ruef for bribery and extortion, along with special assistants Francis J. Heney, Hiram Johnson and Matt Sullivan. After his tenure as district attorney, Langdon entered banking, serving with several banks around Modesto and managing the property his wife had inherited from her first husband. In 1913, he served as the head of the State Board of Education. In 1915, he reentered law when Governor Hiram Johnson appointed Langdon a judge of the Superior Court of

Stanislaus County , image_skyline = , image_caption = Images, from top down, left to right: Modesto Arch, Knights Ferry's General Store, a view of the Tuolumne River from Waterford , image_flag = , i ...

. In December 1918, Governor William Stephens appointed Langdon presiding judge of the newly minted First District, Second Division, of the California Court of Appeal. In 1920, Langdon was elected to a full term. In November 1926, Langdon won election to a 12-year term as an associate justice of the

Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

, where he served the next nineteen years until his death in 1939.Johnson, J. Edward (1966). "William H. Langdon"
''History of the Supreme Court Justices of California, 1900–1950''
San Francisco, CA: Bancroft-Whitney. pp. 131–36. Retrieved July 18, 2017. Langdon filled the unexpired term of

William P. Lawlor William Patrick Lawlor (September 17, 1854 – July 24, 1926) was an associate justice of the California Supreme Court from January 3, 1915, to July 25, 1926. Biography Lawlor was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, on September 17 ...

, who died in office in July 1926, and whose seat was filled for three months by the appointment of

Jeremiah F. Sullivan Jeremiah Francis Sullivan (August 19, 1851 – January 23, 1928) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California from November 22, 1926, to January 3, 1927.

. From 1930 until 1939, treatise author

Bernard E. Witkin Bernard Ernest Witkin (May 22, 1904 – December 23, 1995) was an American lawyer and author. He is best remembered as the founder of the California law treatise, ''Summary of California Law'', which came to be known as "Witkin" and gave rise t ...

served as Langdon's law clerk. In October 1939, the vacancy in Langdon's seat was filled by Governor Culbert Olson with the appointment of

Phil S. Gibson Phil Sheridan Gibson (November 28, 1888 – April 28, 1984) was the 22nd Chief Justice of California for more than 24 years. Early life and education Gibson was born in Grant City, Missouri on November 28, 1888. He was the son of William Jesse a ...

. Among Langdon's notable cases is his 1930 dissent in the denial of a commuted sentence of convicted double murderer Ernest A. Dias. The majority of the court upheld the death penalty, but in dissent Langdon urged the governor to grant executive clemency on the basis of Dias' mental incompetence at the time of the killings.

Personal life

On April 20, 1908, he married Stanford-trained school teacher Myrtie Conneau McHenry (December 2, 1878 – August 18, 1959), a wealthy widow from

Modesto, California Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton- ...

. They had one son: Lawton William Langdon (April 15, 1913 – September 23, 1960). His wife, Myrtie, also had two children from her first marriage: Lois Ann ("Annie") Langdon (Moran) (January 28, 1910 – May 11, 1973) and Merl McHenry (December 3, 1903 – January 3, 1994).

Footnotes

References

* Leonard, John William (1911)
''Who's Who in Finance and Banking: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries, 1920–1922''
New York, NY: Joseph & Sefton. p. 402.

External links

William H. Langdon
California Supreme Court Historical Society. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Langdon, William 1873 births 1939 deaths Justices of the Supreme Court of California District attorneys in California American bankers United States Independence Party politicians People from Alameda County, California California State University alumni U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Superior court judges in the United States Lawyers from San Francisco 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers San Francisco Unified School District superintendents