Sir John Bowes Griffin QC (19 April 1903 – 2 February 1992) was a British lawyer and judge. He served as a government lawyer and judge in a number of British colonies in the mid 20th Century. His last positions were as chief justice of the

Supreme Court of Uganda The Supreme Court of Uganda is the highest judicial organ in Uganda. It derives its powers from Article 130 of the 1995 Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court with original jurisdiction in only one type of case: a presidential electi ...

and

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the Ugandan Parliament.

Early life

Griffin was born on 19 April 1903. He was the only son of Charles James Griffin, who had served as attorney general of Gibraltar,

chief justice of the Leeward Islands The chief justice of the Leeward Islands headed the Supreme Court of the Leeward Islands. The British Leeward Islands was a British colony existing between 1833 and 1960, and consisted of Antigua, Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, S ...

, and chief justice of Uganda. Griffin was educated at

Clongowes Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young ...

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

. He attended

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 ...

where he graduated with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

and a

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He was called to the bar of the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1926.

Legal appointments

Soon after being called to the bar, in 1927, Griffin was appointed an administrative officer in Uganda. In 1929, he was appointed assistant district officer and registrar of the High Court. In the early 1930s, he 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 ...

and in that position acted as solicitor general and

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 ...

for various periods. He was appointed attorney general in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

(1936–39), acting as governor and chief justice for various periods. He was made a

King'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 or ...

while serving in the Bahamas. He was appointed a KC for the Bahamas in 1938. In 1939, he was appointed solicitor general of

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. 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

attorney general of Hong Kong The Secretary for Justice () is the head of the Department of Justice (Hong Kong), 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 Ko ...

, serving there until 1951. In 1952, Griffin returned to Uganda as chief justice and served in that position until his early retirement due to ill health in December 1956. He was knighted in 1955.

Post-retirement appointments

Griffin acted as chief justice of

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...

(now

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

) in 1957. From 1958 to 1962, he served as the speaker of the Legislative Council in Uganda (a body which his sister Alice had become the first female member of in 1954), and from 1962 to 1963 as the speaker of the Ugandan National Assembly. He was made a commander of the

Venerable Order of St John The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

in 1960. He was appointed to a number of other positions in Africa until his final retirement in 1965.

Death

Griffin retired to

Sliema Sliema ( mt, Tas-Sliema ) is a town located on the northeast coast of Malta in the Districts of Malta#Northern Harbour District, Northern Harbour District. It is a major residential and commercial area and a centre for shopping, bars, dining, a ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

where he lived on the Tigne Sea Front. He died on 2 February 1992.Who's Who 1993 Obituaries

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, John Bowes 1903 births 1992 deaths Colony of the Bahamas judges Attorneys General of Hong Kong Bahamian Queen's Counsel 20th-century British lawyers Mandatory Palestine people Speakers of the Parliament of Uganda Uganda Protectorate judges Northern Rhodesia judges British governors of the Bahamas British expatriates in Uganda

Early life

Legal appointments

Post-retirement appointments

Death

Further reading

References