The Honourable Arthur Child (20 November 1852 – 24 August 1902)CHILD, Arthur’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007 was a British lawyer, jurist and colonial administrator who was

Chief Justice of St Lucia The chief justice of St Lucia was the head of the Supreme Court of St Lucia, an island member of the Windward Islands in the West Indies. The court was replaced by the Windward and Leeward Islands Supreme Court and the Windward and Leeward Islands ...

from 1890 to 1902.

Career

Child was born in 1852, the 11th child of Henry Child, a solicitor in London. He was from a family of lawyers; two of his father′s brothers were also solicitors. He was educated privately at Priory-house School, Clapton and the

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, and was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

on 17 November 1876. After practicing on the

South Eastern Circuit The Circuit Court () of Ireland is an intermediate level court of local and limited jurisdiction which hears both civil and criminal matters. On the criminal side the Circuit Court hears criminal matters tried on indictment with a judge and jury ...

at the Mayor′s Court and the Central Criminal Court, he left for the West Indies when he was appointed

Stipendiary Magistrate Stipendiary magistrates were magistrates that were paid for their work (they received a stipend). They existed in the judiciaries of the United Kingdom and those of several former British territories, where they sat in the lowest-level criminal ...

San Fernando, Trinidad San Fernando, officially the City of San Fernando, is the most populous city and second most populous municipality in Trinidad and Tobago, after Chaguanas. Sando, as it is known to many local Trinidadians, occupies 19 km2 and is located in t ...

in 1882. He also acted as a

puisne judge Puisne judge and puisne justice () are terms for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. The term comes from a combination of the two French words, (since, later) and (born) which have been combined as or ; meaning ...

there from 1887 to 1888. He was appointed acting Chief Justice of

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

in 1889, and confirmed in the position in 1890. He also administered the government on the island in 1894–95, and was a member of the Court of Appeal for the

British Windward Islands The British Windward Islands was an administrative grouping of British colonies in the Windward Islands of the West Indies, existing from 1833 until 3 January 1958 and consisting of the islands of Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent (island), S ...

. According to his obituary in

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

, he "was a sound lawyer and none of his decisions were ever reversed upon appeal to the Privy Council". In

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

, he was captain commanding the San Fernando volunteers. Child died in office at

Castries Castries () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Saint Lucia, an island country in the Caribbean. The urban area has a population of approximately 20,000, while the eponymous Castries Quarter, district has a population of just under ...

, St Lucia, on 24 August 1902, leaving a widow and four sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Child, Arthur 1852 births 1902 deaths Members of the Middle Temple 19th-century English judges British colonial attorneys general in the Americas Saint Lucian judges British Windward Islands judges British Trinidad and Tobago judges