Sir Ronald Ormiston Sinclair, KBE, (2 May 1903 – 18 November 1996) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

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

Sinclair was born in 1903. Sources differ whether the place of birth was

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

. His father was the Reverend William Sinclair, who had emigrated to New Zealand from

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

in 1855. His mother was Rosa Elizabeth Nicolls (). Sinclair was educated at Elmwood and Gloucester Street primary schools in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, followed by

Christchurch Boys' High School , motto_translation = I Seek Higher Things , type = State school, Day and Boarding school , gender = Boys , song = The School We Magnify , colours = Blue and Black , established = , address = 71 Straven ...

. He continued his secondary education at

New Plymouth Boys' High School New Plymouth Boys' High School is a single-sex boys' state secondary school in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. The school currently caters for approximately 1300 students, including 210 boarders, on its site. The school often collaborat ...

. He received his tertiary education at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn ...

before moving to Britain to study at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

.East Africa and Rhodesia, volume=34, Africana., 1957 On graduation, he returned to New Zealand and was called to the New Zealand Bar in 1924. He entered the Colonial Service in 1931 and worked as a

Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a ''magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

in Nigeria until 1938.Who's who of Rhodesia, Mauritius, Central and East Africa: Supplement to the Who's who of Southern Africa, Combined Publishers., 1962 He then moved to

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodes ...

where he was appointed Resident Magistrate. He was called to the Bar in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

by the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1939. In 1946 he was promoted to a

Puisne Judge A puisne judge or puisne justice (; from french: puisné or ; , 'since, later' + , 'born', i.e. 'junior') is a dated term for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. Use The term is used almost exclusively in common law ...

Tanganyika Tanganyika may refer to: Places * Tanganyika Territory (1916–1961), a former British territory which preceded the sovereign state * Tanganyika (1961–1964), a sovereign state, comprising the mainland part of present-day Tanzania * Tanzania M ...

and remained in the post until 1953 when he was again advanced, this time to Chief Justice of

Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate located 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 Nyasal ...

. Sinclair became Vice-President of the Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa in 1956 and that same year was knighted in the

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are pres ...

. He assumed the office of

Chief Justice of Kenya The Chief Justice of Kenya is the head of the Judiciary of Kenya and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya and is an office established under Article 161 of the Kenyan Constitution. The Chief Justice is assisted by the Deputy Chief Justice ...

in 1957 and remained in office until 1963 when he became President of the Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa and later President of the Court of Appeal of The Bahamas.The Nairobi Law Monthly, Kaibi Limited, 1989 He was appointed KBE in 1963. He retired from service in 1964 and died in New Zealand on 18 November 1996. He was buried at Purewa Cemetery in the Auckland suburb of Meadowbank. His son Anthony Ronald Entrican Sinclair is a noted biologist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Ronald 1903 births 1996 deaths 20th-century New Zealand lawyers Chief justices of Kenya People educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford University of Auckland alumni New Zealand Knights Bachelor New Zealand people of English descent East African Court of Appeal judges Burials at Purewa Cemetery People educated at Christchurch Boys' High School New Zealand Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire