William a'Beckett (1806 - 1869)

Ancestors Descendants

Biography

Sir William À'Beckett was a British barrister and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria.

William À'Beckett was born 28th July 1806 at London, England. He was the son of William A'Beckett, a solicitor, and Sarah Abbott. He was educated at Westminster School, publishing a youthful volume of verse, The Siege of Dumbarton Castle, in 1824. In 1829 he was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn.^[1]

À Beckett married, firstly, Emily Hayley His cousin, in 1832, however she died on 1st June 1841. He then married Emily's sister, Matilda Hayley, in 1849 at Melbourne, Victoria.^[2] He had thirteen children.^[1]

He migrated to the Colony of New South Wales (Australia) aboard City of Edinburgh, in 1837, ^[3] whereupon he edited the Literary News, a short-lived newspaper. In 1838, along with William Foster and Richard Windeyer, he defended the eleven colonists charged with murder in relation to the Myall Creek massacre. He was appointed acting Solicitor General for the colony in March 1841, and Solicitor General in March 1843. In July 1844 he became an acting judge, and was made a full puisne judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.^[1]

In January 1846, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of New South Wales for the District of Port Phillip (Victoria) as the resident judge. In 1851 he was created a knight bachelor. When in January 1852 the separate Colony of Victoria was proclaimed, he became its first Chief Justice. In December 1854 he participated in the Eureka Stockade trials.^[1]

In February 1855, two of the rebels from the Eureka Stockade - a miner's strike on the Ballarat Gold Fields, came before him charged with treason, facing a possible death sentence. When the jury found them not guilty against his direction it: "drew from him an ebullition of temper by no means in keeping with the dignity of his position."^[4]

He wrote a number of books, including several volumes of his poetry, and a manual for magistrates of the Court of Petty Sessions, the predecessor of the Magistrates Court of Victoria.^[1]

He was a member of the Melbourne Club.

He was a regular speaker at the Total Abstinence League.

He had injured his legs many years earlier playing Cricket at Lord's and later paralysis set in and he could not walk unaided. He sought medical advice in England in 1853 taking two years leave, but returned to Melbourne in 1855.

À Beckett retired as Chief Justice in 1857 due to poor health, and in 1863 he returned to England. ^[1]

He died on 27th June 1869 at Croydon, Surrey and was buried in West Norwood Cemetery, Surrey.

He was survived by four sons. One, William, (1833-1901) married Emma Mills (1838-1906), the daughter of John Mills, a freed convict from Tasmania who founded brewing in Melbourne. Their daughter Emma Minnie, whose pursuit was painting, married another of the same pursuit, Arthur Merric Boyd, and there began extended generations of artists in Australian cultural life, collectively the Boyd family. Sir William's nephew Thomas à Beckett, son of his brother Thomas, was also a puisne judge in Australia.^[1]

A'Beckett Street, located in Melbourne's Central Business District, is named for Sir William and his influential role as Chief Justice of Victoria.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Wikipedia pofile: William À'Beckett; accessed 29 Apr 2020
2. ↑ Victoria Marriage Index #29090/1849
3. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1826-1922

   Name: William A Beckett Esquire [William a Beckett]

   Port of Departure: London via Cape of Good Hope

   Port of Arrival: Port Jackson, New South Wales

   Voyage Arrival Date: 24 May 1837

   Vessel Name: City Of Edinburgh

   Origin Location: England

4. ↑ The Age, 24 February 1855

• E. G. Coppel, 'à Beckett, Sir William (1806–1869)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/a-beckett-sir-william-2862/text4079, published first in hardcopy 1969, accessed online 9 December 2022.
• The Boyds by Brenda Niall Melbourne University Press