William Henry Langdon (September 25, 1873 – August 10, 1939) was an American banker, lawyer and Associate Justice of the

California Supreme Court 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 ...

from January 4, 1927, to August 10, 1939.

Education and early career

Langdon was born near

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 ...

Alameda County, California Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. Al ...

, 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 The California State Normal School was a teaching college system founded on May 2, 1862, eventually evolving into San José State University in San Jose and the University of California, Los Angeles in Los Angeles. History The school was creat ...

to become a teacher, while also studying law in the offices of future Supreme Court Justice John E. Richards. In 1896, Langdon was admitted to the state Bar. Langdon served as vice principal and principal at schools in

San Leandro San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the sout ...

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

, and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, eventually becoming the city's

school superintendent In the American education system, a superintendent or superintendent of schools is an administrator or manager in charge of a number of public schools or a school district, a local government body overseeing public schools. All school principa ...

in 1902.

Legal and judicial career

In November 1905, city voters elected Langdon as

district attorney of San Francisco The San Francisco District Attorney's Office is the legal agency charged with prosecuting crimes in the City and County of San Francisco, California. The current district attorney is Brooke Jenkins. Occupants of this office have gone on to highe ...

, and in 1907 re-elected him to a second term. A popular district attorney, Langdon was nominated by the

Independence League The Independence Party, established as the Independence League, was a short-lived minor American political party sponsored by newspaper publisher and politician William Randolph Hearst in 1906. The organization was the successor to the Munici ...

as its choice for

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

in the 1906 elections. Langdon's presence as a strong

third party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a Veh ...

candidacy won over 14 percent of the vote, proving to be a spoiler vote in a tight race between

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

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 Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

James Gillett James Norris Gillett (September 20, 1860 – April 20, 1937) was an American lawyer and politician. A Republican involved in federal and state politics, Gillett was elected both a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California from ...

. In 1907, one year after the aftermath of the

San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...

, Langdon carried out the successful prosecutions both of Mayor

Eugene Schmitz Eugene Edward Schmitz (August 22, 1864 – November 20, 1928), often referenced as "Handsome Gene" Schmitz, was an American musician and politician, the 26th mayor of San Francisco (1902-7), who was in office during the 1906 San Francisco earthqu ...

and political machine operator

Abe Ruef Abraham Ruef (September 2, 1864 – February 29, 1936) was an American lawyer and politician. He gained notoriety as the corrupt political boss behind the administration of Mayor Eugene Schmitz of San Francisco during the period before and after t ...

for bribery and extortion, along with special assistants

Francis J. Heney Francis Joseph "Frank" Heney (March 17, 1859 – October 31, 1937) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician. Heney is known for killing an opposing plaintiff in self-defense and for being shot in the head by a prospective juror during the Sa ...

Hiram Johnson Hiram Warren Johnson (September 2, 1866August 6, 1945) was an American attorney and politician who served as the Governor of California, 23rd governor of California from 1911 to 1917. Johnson achieved national prominence in the early 20th century ...

and

Matt Sullivan Matt Ignatius Sullivan (November 3, 1857 – August 6, 1937) was the 16th Chief Justice of California. Appointed by Governor Hiram Johnson, Sullivan served from August 22, 1914, to January 4, 1915.Johnson, J. Edward (1966). "Matt I. Sullivan" ...

. After his tenure as district attorney, Langdon entered banking, serving with several banks around

Modesto 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- ...

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

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 The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided along county lines into six appellate districts.

. 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. 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 Culbert Levy Olson (November 7, 1876 – April 13, 1962) was an American lawyer and politician. A Democratic Party member, Olson was involved in Utah and California politics and was elected as the 29th governor of California from 1939 to 1943. ...

with the appointment of Phil S. Gibson. 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