Sir Joseph Horsford Kemp

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

KC (1874-1950) was a British-Irish lawyer and judge. He served as Attorney General and Chief Justice of Hong Kong in the early 1930s.

Early life

Kemp was born in Drogheda, Ireland on 23 December 1874. He was educated at

the High School, Dublin The High School is a 12–18 mixed, Church of Ireland, independent secondary school in Rathgar, Dublin, Ireland. It was established in 1870 at Harcourt Street before moving to Rathgar in 1971 and amalgamated with The Diocesan School for Girl ...

, Ireland, and Cape University, South Africa. He commenced studying for a

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 ...

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

. In 1898, he sat for an Eastern cadetship and the same year he went to Hong Kong as a cadet in Hong Kong Service of the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of c ...

, having scored the highest marks in the competitive examinations.

Legal appointments

In 1904, Kemp was appointed Registrar of the Land Court in Hong Kong and in 1904 Registrar of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong. He was called to the bar of Lincoln's Inn in 1911 and became

Crown Solicitor A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

in Hong Kong. In 1913, he was appointed a

puisne judge A puisne judge or puisne justice (; from french: puisné or ; , 'since, later' + , 'born', i.e. 'junior') is a dated term for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. Use The term is used almost exclusively in common law ...

of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong. Two years later, in 1915 he was appointed

Attorney General of Hong Kong The Secretary for Justice () is the head of the Hong Kong Department of Justice, the chief legal advisor to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, and the chief law enforcement officer of the Government of Hong Kong. Before the Transfer of the So ...

a position he held until 1930. In this position he was also a member of the

Hong Kong Legislative Council The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's "one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Kong' ...

. He was appointed a King's Counsel in 1918. He was made a

, in the same year. Kemp was knighted in 1927. In 1930, he was appointed Chief Justice of Hong Kong replacing Sir

Henry Gollan Sir Henry Cowper Gollan CBE KC (8 January 1868 – 5 August 1949) was a British lawyer and judge. He served as attorney general and chief justice of a number of British colonies in the early 20th century. His last position before retirement w ...

. The appointment was in line with long-term practice in British Hong Kong of assigning administrative officers to serve in the local judiciary. In his capacity as Chief Justice of Hong Kong, he also sat as a member of the

full court A full court (less formally, full bench) is a court of law sitting with a greater than normal number of judges. For a court which is usually presided over by one judge, a full court has three or more judges; for a court which, like many appellate ...

of the British Supreme Court for China in Shanghai.

Retirement

Kemp retired to England in 1933. On his retirement, he was granted an honorary Doctor of Laws by the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the f ...

He died on 13 September 1950 at his home in Sutton, Surrey.Corona: The Journal of HIs Majesty's Colonial Service, Vol 2, Page 421

External links

There is a picture of Kemp in his judicial wig and gown at: http://gwulo.com/node/14733

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kemp, Joseph Horsford 1874 births 1950 deaths Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong British Supreme Court for China judges Attorneys General of Hong Kong Hong Kong Queen's Counsel People from Drogheda