Right Hon. George Augustus Chichester May PC, QC (1815 – 16 August 1892) was an Irish judge.

Early life

May was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, the son of the Reverend Edward May and Elizabeth Sinclair. He was educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into ...

and

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Ma ...

, where he graduated B.A. as 36th Wrangler and 3rd Classic in 1836, and became a fellow of Magdalene.

Legal career

Called to the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...

in 1844, he became

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 ...

in 1865; he was appointed

Law Adviser to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland The Law Adviser to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was a Law Officer of the English Crown in nineteenth-century Ireland. The office lapsed in the 1880s, due apparently to concerns that it was becoming too political, but was briefly revived in the ea ...

in 1874, and

Attorney-General for Ireland The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. With the ...

in 1875. In 1877 he became Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench for Ireland and on the passing of the

Judicature Act Judicature Act is a term which was used in the United Kingdom for legislation which related to the Supreme Court of Judicature. List United Kingdom :The Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c.66) :The Supreme Court of Judicature ...

became Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench Division of the Irish High Court. He retired in 1887 and died in 1892. According to F. Elrington Ball's work on the pre-1921 Irish judiciary, while May was a considerable scholar, he was not well regarded as a barrister and his appointment was greeted with some protest.Ball, F. Elrington, ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'', John Murray, London 1926

Family

May married Olivia Barrington, daughter of Sir Matthew Barrington, 2nd Baronet, still remembered for the foundation of Barrington's Hospital, and Charlotte Hartigan, daughter of the eminent surgeon William Hartigan, in 1853. She died in 1876. They had ten children, including George Chichester May, General Sir Edward Sinclair May, and Sir Francis Henry May,

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kon ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:May, George Augustus Chichester 1815 births 1892 deaths People educated at Shrewsbury School Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Irish barristers 19th-century King's Counsel Attorneys-General for Ireland Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Lords chief justice of Ireland Irish Queen's Counsel