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 po ...

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 "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Ireland, Province , subd ...

, 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 Dunboyne () is a town in Meath, Ireland. It is a commuter town for Dublin. In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 censuses, the population of Dunboyne more than doubled from 3,080 to 7,272 inhabitants. Location Dunboyne is centred on the ...

family. Blackall was educated at Stonyhurst College. 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 Ch ...

(1st place) from

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 ...

. 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 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 countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

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, the prime minister and the leader of the m ...

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 opposing ...

, in 1946, he was appointed Chief Justice of Hong Kong replacing Sir Atholl MacGregor. 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, 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)