Sir Robert Blair Roden (21 April 1860 – 5 February 1939) was a British colonial judge. He was

Chief Justice of St Vincent The Chief Justice of St Vincent was the head of the Supreme Court of Saint Vincent in Saint Vincent, 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 W ...

from 1912 to 1915 and

Chief Justice of British Honduras The Chief Justice of Belize is the head of the Supreme Court of Belize. Under Chapter 7 of the Constitution of Belize, the Chief Justice is appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister. Since the retirement of Kenneth B ...

from 1915 to 1921.

Biography

Roden was born in

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

, the son of J. James Roden, a sugar planter. He was educated at the Ewart Institute in Newton Stewart, Scotland. Roden joined the Colonial Service in 1880. He was Magistrate of Nevis from 1890, Private Secretary to successive governors of the Leeward Islands in 1883, 1890, 1895, and 1896, He was a member of the St Kitt’s and Nevis Legislative Council from 1891, of the Federal Legislative Council of the Leeward Islands from 1898. In 1903, 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 ...

by Gray's Inn and was appointed Police Magistrate of Bridgetown, Barbados the same year. He acted on several occasions as Judge of the Bridgetown Petty Debt Court and of the Barbados Assistant Court of Appeal. He was appointed

, 1912, administered the Government of St Vincent from October 1912 to February 1913, and for periods in 1913 and 1914. He was appointed

in 1915, retiring in 1921. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1918. He died in London in 1939. In 1890, Roden married Rachel Thomson Harrison, elder daughter of W. P. Harrison of Edinburgh; they had one daughter. Lady Roden died in 1936.

References

* https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-216334 * https://www.saxonlodge.net/getperson.php?personID=I3870&tree=Tatham {{DEFAULTSORT:Roden, Robert Blair 1860 births 1939 deaths Chief justices of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines British Windward Islands judges People from Nottingham English King's Counsel 20th-century English lawyers Antigua and Barbuda judges People from the British West Indies