Alfred Lucie-Smith Explained

Sir Alfred van Waterschoodt Lucie-Smith (9 January 1854 – 3 June 1947) was a British colonial judge.

Lucie-Smith was born in Demerara, British Guiana, the second son of Sir John Lucie-Smith, later the Chief Justice of Jamaica, and his wife Marie, eldest daughter of J. R. van Waterschoodt.[1] He was educated at Rugby School and from 1877 worked as a solicitor in British Guiana.

In 1878 he entered the Middle Temple, where he was called to the bar in 1881, and a year later became acting Solicitor General of British Guiana. He was sent to Cyprus in 1887 where he served as president of a district court in Famagusta.[2] After five years, he was transferred to another court in Limassol.[2] Lucie-Smith was nominated an Acting Queen's Advocate in 1893 and was attached to Constantinople in 1895 as an Acting Consular Judge.[2] Only a year later he came to Kingston, Jamaica, where he acted as the parish's resident magistrate.[2]

In 1898, Lucie-Smith returned to British Guiana, having been made a Puisne Judge. He stayed in this office until 1908, when he was appointed Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago. He was created a Knight Bachelor in 1911 and retired as judge in 1924.[3]

On 15 August 1885, he had married Rose Alice, seventh daughter of Edward Leopold Aves at the church Nuestra Señora del Monte in Demarara.[4] After her death, he remarried 4 September 1901, in Kensington, Mary Meta Ruth Palmer Ross, daughter of Sir David Palmer Ross, at some time Surgeon-General of British Guiana.[5] Lucie-Smith was father of eight sons and a daughter.[3] His son John served also as a judge and was Chief Justice of Sierra Leone.[3]

His nephew Euan Lucie-Smith was one of the first mixed-heritage infantry officers in a regular British Army regiment, and the first killed in World War I.[6]

References

Notes and References

  1. Reade (1904), p. 213
  2. Debrett (1922), p. 480
  3. Who's Who (1947), p. 1693
  4. News: Marriage Notices . 15 September 1885 . .
  5. Marriages. 6 September 1901 . 1 . 36553.
  6. News: Sanderson . Ginny . First black British officer of First World War was Eastbourne student . 16 November 2020 . eastbourneherald.co.uk . 22 October 2020 .