James Beveridge Thomson

Tun Dato' Sir James Beveridge Thomson, KBE, SSM, PMN, PJK[Note 1] (24 March 1902 – 31 March 1983),[1] was a Scottish barrister and judge who was the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Malaysia.

Life

Born in Clydebank, Scotland, he attended George Watson's College and graduated from Edinburgh University with first-class honours in History.

He was called to the English Bar (Middle Temple) in 1929. He was a resident magistrate in Northern Rhodesia, appointed Puisne Judge, Fiji and Western Pacific in 1945,[2] and Puisne Judge in Malaya in 1947.[3] He was Chief Justice of Fiji (and ex officio Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific) 1949-1953, and Chief Justice of Tonga.[4] He was called to the Scottish Bar in 1955.[5]

From 1953 Thomson was back in Malaysia. He was a judge in the High Court in Ipoh, Perak, from 1953-1957.[6] In 1957 he was appointed as Chief Justice of Malaya,[7] receiving a knighthood in 1959.[8] After the Federation of Malaya was re-constituted as Malaysia in September 1963, Thomson served as its first Lord President of the Federal Court until May 1966.[Note 2] He was appointed KBE in 1966.[9]

Family life

He married Dr. Florence Adam, MRCP (Eng.), LRCP (Lond.) After James Thomson's knighthood in 1959 she was known as Datin Lady Thomson. She was a practising physician, working in Northern Rhodesia where her husband was Resident Magistrate,[10][11] and was Medical Officer in Fiji.[12] During their time in Malaysia, she became chief nutritionist at the Institute of Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur, carrying out research and authoring a number of articles on child nutrition in Malaysia.[13] [14] When in Scotland, and after their retirement, they lived at Craig Gowan, Carrbridge, Badenoch and Strathspey, Highland region (formerly Inverness-shire)[5]

Selected bibliography

The following two books are probably not by the same James Beveridge Thomson:

Notes

  1. ↑ Malay:Pingat Jasa Kebaktian (PJK) = Meritorious Service Medal, instituted 1950
  2. ↑ The Federal Court was known as the Supreme Court between 1985-1994.

References

  1. ↑ Obituary, The Times (London), 8 April 1983
  2. ↑ "The London Gazette". 12 January 1945. p. 362.
  3. ↑ "The London Gazette". 12 December 1947. p. 5872.
  4. ↑ "Pursuivant" (5 June 1965). "From All Quarters - Back Home". Glasgow Herald: p. 6.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Bar list of the United Kingdom. London: Stevens & Sons. 1982.
  6. ↑ Malaysian High Court judgments
  7. ↑ Tan, Roger (14 November 2011). "Judicial diversity creates confidence". The Malaysian Bar (Padan Peguan Malaysia). Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  8. ↑ "Supplement to The London Gazette of Tuesday, 30th December 1958". 1 January 1959. p. 2. (Listing begins on page 1)
  9. ↑ "Supplement to the London Gazette, 1st January 1966". p. 20.
  10. ↑ Adam-Thomson, F. (28 January 1939). "New Menstruation Toilet". BMJ 1 (4073): 189. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.4073.189-b. PMC 2208769.
  11. ↑ Thomson, Dr. F. Adam (23 July 1949). "Points from Letters: Creeping Eruption". BMJ 1 (4620): 234. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.4620.234-c. PMC 2050457.
  12. ↑ Thomson, F. Adam (March 1949). "Dietary deficiencies in children in the island of Viti Levu, Fiji". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 42 (5): 487–492. doi:10.1016/0035-9203(49)90054-1.
  13. ↑ Thomson, Datin Lady; Ruiz, Elva; Bakar, Mangisi (September 1964). "Vitamin A and protein deficiency in Malayan children". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 58 (5): 425–431. doi:10.1016/0035-9203(64)90090-2.
  14. ↑ Tee, E. Siong (1980). "An annotated bibliography of nutrition research in Malaysia (1900–1979)". ASEAN sub-committee on protein

External links