Owen Beasley

Sir Horace Owen Compton Beasley OBE (2 July 1877 – 1 January 1960)[1][2] was the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court from 1929 to 1937.[3]

Sir Horace Owen Compton Beasley
Chief Justice of the Madras High Court
In office
1929–1937
Preceded bySir Murray Coutts-Trotter
Succeeded bySir Alfred Henry Lionel Leach
Personal details
Born2 July 1877
Chiswick, London, England
Died1960(1960-00-00) (aged 82–83)
Occupationlawyer, judge
ProfessionChief Justice

Biography

The son of Ammon Beasley, general manager of the Taff Vale Railway Company, Owen Beasley was born at Chiswick, and educated at Westminster and Jesus College, Cambridge (B.A. 1899). He was called to the Bar from the Inner Temple in 1902, and worked on the South Western Circuit.

He was a puisne judge of the High Court of Burma from 1923 to 1924, then at Madras from 1924 to 1929; he was appointed Chief Justice of the Madras High Court in 1929, serving in that capacity until 1937.[4]

It was said of him that "the Madras bar never lost faith in his sense of justice and honesty of purpose..." and that he had an "uncompromising sense of duty and utter disregard for personal distinction between lawyers", observing also his "imperial attitude of benevolent despotism".[5]

Beasley served in World War I, first as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, then as a Captain in the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), and as a Major in the Labour Corps. He was appointed OBE in 1919, and knighted in 1930. He was married with children, and lived at Bullingham Mansions, Pitt Street, London.[6]

References
  1. Alumni Cantabrigienses, vol. 2: From 1752 to 1900, part 1: Abbey-Challis, ed. John Venn, J. A. Venn, Cambridge University Press, p. 203
  2. The Madras Law Journal, vol. 1, R. Narayanaswami Aiyar, 1960, p. 6
  3. "The former Chief Justices". hcmadras.tn.nic.in. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  4. Alumni Cantabrigienses, vol. 2: From 1752 to 1900, part 1: Abbey-Challis, ed. John Venn, J. A. Venn, Cambridge University Press, p. 203
  5. Lawyer, vol. 15, Indian Law Institute, Madras State Unit, 1983, p. 205
  6. Alumni Cantabrigienses, vol. 2: From 1752 to 1900, part 1: Abbey-Challis, ed. John Venn, J. A. Venn, Cambridge University Press, p. 203
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