Sir Edgar Ignatius Godfrey Unsworth,

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 ...

, CMG, QC (18 April 1906 – 15 March 2006) was a British lawyer and judge. He served as both Attorney-General for

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

and

Chief Justice of Gibraltar The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Gibraltar is one of the four judges who make up the supreme court of Gibraltar. Previously the chief justice was appointed by the Governor of Gibraltar on the advice of the British Foreign and Commonweal ...

during his long legal career.

Biography

He attended

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College or Stonyhurst is a co-educational Catholic Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing education for boarding school, boarding and day school, day pupils, adhering to the Society of Jesus, Jesuit tradition. It is ...

and

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

(LLB Hons) and studied law at

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 ...

, where he 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 ...

in 1930. He was in private practice from 1930 to 1937 before accepting the post as a Crown Counsel in Northern Nigeria. He afterwards served as Attorney-General of Northern Rhodesia (1951–56) and of the Federation of Nigeria (1956–60) before serving two years as Federal Justice of the Federal Supreme Court. He then took the post of Chief Justice of Nyasaland (1962–64) and was appointed

the following year. He was knighted in 1963. At the time of his death, he was the second to last person originally appointed as “

King's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

”, before the accession of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. He died in 2006, a month before his centenary. He never married.

References

External links

Obituary notice

Sources

* Burke's Peerage & Gentry LLC. (Burke's Peerage & Baronetage 107th Edition, Burke's Landed Gentry 19th Edition) * Burke's Peerage Partnership. (Burke's Landed Gentry 18th Edition) 1906 births 2006 deaths People educated at Stonyhurst College Alumni of the University of Manchester Members of Gray's Inn 20th-century King's Counsel English barristers Chief justices of Nyasaland Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Chief justices of Gibraltar Attorneys-general of Northern Rhodesia Members of the Legislative Council of Northern Rhodesia 20th-century Gibraltarian judges {{UK-law-bio-stub