Sir Kenneth Kennedy O'Connor

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

MC QC (21 December 1896 – 13 January 1985, aged 88) was a soldier, lawyer and judge who served in the

British Colonial Service The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...

Biography

Early life

O'Connor was born in

Ranchi Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. He was the second child of the Revd. William O'Connor and Emma (née Kennedy). He was educated at Saint Columba's College, Dublin where he was a chorister and cricketer. From here he won a choral scholarship to

Worcester College Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

, Oxford but was unable to take it up due to the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

India

In 1915, he joined the

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

as an officer in the 14th King George's Own Ferozepore Sikhs. He was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

"for distinguished and meritorious services" at the

Battle of Sharqat The Battle of Sharqat (October 23–30, 1918) was fought between the British and the Ottoman Empire in the Mesopotamian Campaign in World War I, It was the last battle fought in Mesopotamia during the war and one of the final conflicts between the ...

, during the campaign in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

against the Turks. Sir Kenneth later wrote a short account of the

. After the war he left the Indian Army with the rank of captain, though he was later made an honorary colonel. Having left the army, he joined the Foreign & Political Department of the Government of India, serving as the British District Commissioner in

Charsadda Chārsadda (; ; ; ) is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.Khyber Pass The Khyber Pass (Urdu: درۂ خیبر; ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by tr ...

Legal career

In 1922, he left India and returned to England, where he was called to the London Bar in 1924 by

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

. After a short time practising at the London Bar, he became a partner in the firm of

Drew & Napier Drew & Napier LLC is a Singaporean law firm. Founded in 1889, the firm has more than 500 employees. It is regarded as one of the Lawyers in Singapore#Law firms in Singapore, Big Four law firms in Singapore. In Singapore, Drew & Napier is part ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. In Singapore, he met and married Margaret Helen Wise, the eldest daughter of the rubber planter Percy Furlong Wise, of the Devonshire dynasty. As Chairman of the Straits Settlements Association, O'Connor played a key role in planning the civilian evacuation of the island in the event of a Japanese invasion. He escaped from Singapore in a small, open sailing boat with unsuitable sails and a children's atlas for navigation. Despite these impediments, with three others, he successfully sailed to

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

. O'Connor later wrote a short account of this adventure, entitled ''Four Men in a Boat''. He had already evacuated his young family (Anthony, born 1933 and Hugh, born 1940) to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, where he later joined them.

Colonial Legal Service

In 1943, having joined the Colonial Legal Service, O'Connor was appointed

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After ...

. After the war he returned to Singapore to reconstruct the legal practice of Drew & Napier. In 1946, he was appointed

of the

Malayan Union The Malayan Union (; Jawi: كساتوان مالايا) was a union of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single g ...

and in 1948,

Attorney General of Kenya The Attorney General of Kenya is the head of the Kenyan State Law Office, the principal legal adviser to the government of Kenya, and a member of the Cabinet (government), Cabinet. Dorcas Agik Oduor is the current and first woman Attorney-General ...

. In 1951, O'Connor was appointed

Chief Justice of Jamaica Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

in which position he served until 1954. He was knighted in 1952. In 1954, he was recalled to

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

as Chief Justice, serving until 1957. During his time as Chief Justice of Kenya, the

Mau Mau Uprising The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt, or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, and the ...

was at its peak. O'Connor was the senior presiding judge in many Mau Mau trials, the most notable being that of

Dedan Kimathi Dedan Kimathi Waciuri (born Kimathi wa Waciuri; 31 October 1920 – 18 February 1957) was the leader of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army during the Mau Mau Uprising (1952–1960) against the British colonial rule in Kenya in the 1950s. He was ca ...

, whom O'Connor sentenced to death in 1957. O'Connor finished his legal career as President of the Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa from 1957 to 1962, with jurisdiction over

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

and Tanganyika.

Later life

Following independence, Sir Kenneth and Lady O'Connor retired to their house, Buckland Court, in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1962. Sir Kenneth died on 13 January 1985, aged 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Kenneth 1896 births 1985 deaths People educated at St Columba's College, Dublin Members of Gray's Inn Colonial Legal Service officers Indian Political Service officers British Indian Army officers Indian Army personnel of World War I Recipients of the Military Cross British people of the Mau Mau rebellion Chief justices of Jamaica Chief justices of Kenya British Kenya judges Uganda Protectorate judges Tanganyika (territory) judges Attorneys general of British Kenya Nyasaland people Attorneys-general of Nyasaland British colonial attorneys general in Asia East African Court of Appeal judges Knights Bachelor Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Jamaican judges Lawyers awarded knighthoods