Henry Wrenfordsley

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Sir Henry Thomas Wrenfordsley (c. 1835 – 2 June 1908) Kt was an Irish lawyer and was the second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of Western Australia.

Educated in France, he entered Trinity College, Dublin in March 1841. A journeyman lawyer in Dublin and at the English Bar, Sir Henry later joined the colonial service. Called to the bar on 30 April 1863, he was junior counsel for the Privy Council office.

In 1876 he became a deputy-judge of County courts at Marylebone, Brompton and Brentford. He was appointed as a puisne judge at Mauritius before accepting the post as Chief Justice of Western Australia.

Contemporary accounts suggest Sir Henry was given to frequent clashes of personality. One such clash with the Governor, Sir William Robinson led to Sir Henry's removal to the post of Chief Justice of Fiji. This ended a tumultuous three years for the state, although Sir Henry would return once more in 1890 as acting Chief Justice when his successor, Sir Alexander Onslow took a one year leave of absence.

From February to June 1883 he became acting-governor of Western Australia. In 1884 he was an acting-judge of the supreme court of Tasmania, and took a similar position at Melbourne in 1888. In the following year he was appointed acting chief justice at Perth. He became chief justice of the Leeward Islands in 1891, and held the position until his retirement in 1902. He died at Antibes in the south of France on 2 June 1908. He was knighted in 1883.

[edit] References

Serle, Percival (1949). "Wrenfordsley, Henry Thomas". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.
T. S. Louch, 'Wrenfordsley, Sir Henry Thomas (1825 - 1908)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, Melbourne University Press, 1976, pp 440-441.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1949 edition of Dictionary of Australian Biography from Project Gutenberg of Australia, which is in the public domain in Australia and the United States of America.