Sir Henry William Butler Blackall QC (19 June 1889 – 1 November 1981) was an Irish lawyer and judge. He served as Attorney General of two British colonies in the mid 20th Century and served as Chief Justice of

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

and Chief Justice of Hong Kong. His last position before retirement was as President of the

West African Court of Appeal The West African Court of Appeal (WACA) was a court which served as the appellate court for the British colonies of Gold Coast, Nigeria, Gambia, and Sierra Leone. History The WACA was first established in 1867 as the appellate court for British pos ...

Early life

Blackall was born in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

, the son of Henry Blackall of Garden Hill, County Limerick, and Isabella Emily Butler. His father was a solicitor and member of the Council of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland. On his mother's side, he was a member of the Dunboyne family. Blackall was educated at

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Catholic Church, Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Society of Jesus, Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst, Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. Th ...

. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree and

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

(1st place) from Trinity College Dublin. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1912. He served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

from 1914 to 1918.

Legal appointments

In 1919, Blackall was appointed

Crown Counsel Crown counsel are lawyers, generally in Common Law jurisdictions, who provide advice to the government and acts as prosecutors in cases. In various jurisdictions their title can vary and they could also be known as the Queen's Advocate, King's Advo ...

in Kenya and a member of the Legislative Council in 1920. In 1923, he was appointed Crown Counsel in Nigeria. He served in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

until 1931 and acted as solicitor general for various periods. He then served as

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

in Cyprus from 1932 to 1936 and then in the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

from 1936 to 1943. He was made a

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 ...

while serving in Cyprus.Blackall's entry in Who's Who 1956. In 1943 he was appointed

Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago The Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago is the highest judge of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and presides over its Supreme Court of Judicature. He is appointed by a common decision of the President of Trinidad and Tobago, president, the Prim ...

and President of the

West Indian Court of Appeal The West Indian Court of Appeal (WICA) was a court which served as the appellate court for the British colonies of Trinidad and Tobago, British Guiana, Barbados, the Leeward Islands, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent from 1919 until the c ...

. At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in 1946, he was appointed Chief Justice of Hong Kong replacing Sir

Atholl MacGregor Sir Alasdair Duncan Atholl MacGregor KC (4 June 1883 – 30 October 1945) was a British lawyer and judge. He served as Attorney General in a number of British colonies in the early 20th century. He was Chief Justice of Hong Kong from 1933 to ...

. In 1948, he was appointed President of the

Retirement and death

Blackall retired in 1951 and pursued his interest in genealogy, writing at least two books on the subject: ''The Butlers of County Clare'' and ''The Galweys & Gallweys of Munster''. In 1976 was living in Cyprus. He was conferred an Honorary LLD by Dublin University. He died in 1981 in

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...

, Cyprus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackall, Henry William Butler 1889 births 1981 deaths Irish civil servants 20th-century Irish judges British colonial judges in Africa Chief justices of Trinidad and Tobago Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong British Hong Kong judges Knights Bachelor Lawyers awarded knighthoods People educated at Stonyhurst College Gold Coast (British colony) people British Trinidad and Tobago judges British emigrants to Cyprus Attorneys-General of British Cyprus Attorneys General of the Gold Coast (British colony) West Indian Court of Appeal judges West African Court of Appeal judges Lawyers from Limerick (city)