Sir Walter Llewellyn Lewis (13 November 1849 – 26 September 1930) was an advocate, magistrate of

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

Biography

Lewis was born in

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire ...

, but his mother and father settled in County Galway in early 1852. Educated at

Queens College Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

, he received a B.A. in 1869 and took his M.A. in 1871. He received a gold medal and first class honours in his degree. Lewis entered as a student of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1872; he acquired his knowledge of the law in the chambers of Robert Wallace, Herbert Reed and Robert McCall. He frequently "devilled" for McCall who was also a graduate of QCG. He married Jane Mary Dealy in 1887. In his leisure time Lewis enjoyed voyaging to various parts of the world—he was an expert navigator. In 1876 he began to practice on the Northern Circuit but this was not to his liking and he switched to the South Wales and Chester Circuit. Suffering from poor health in 1883 and 1884 he accepted an appointment from

Lord Derby Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869, known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley) was a British statesman, three-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ...

as a stipendiary magistrate in the county district of Trinidad. Some of Lewis's duties lay outside the judiciary: he was chairman of the roads commission, the commission on Agriculture and administrator of the Trinidad public service Widows and Orphans Fund. He was commended for this work by

Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the ...

, and confirmed as a judge of the Supreme Court in 1893. By 1900 he had left to serve as Chief Justice of British Honduras. Lewis received the King Edward VII Coronation Medal in 1902, a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

in 1904 and in 1906 he decided to retire. He died in Blackheath, aged 80. Lewis married the noted artist Jane Mary Dealy in 1887; Lady Lewis died in 1939.

References

19th-century English lawyers 1849 births 1930 deaths British Trinidad and Tobago judges Chief Justices of British Honduras Knights Bachelor Members of the Middle Temple People from County Galway {{Belize-bio-stub