29 Facts About Archibald Burt

Sir Archibald Paull Burt QC was a British lawyer, politician and judge.

Archibald Burt grew up on the island of Saint Christopher in the West Indies, where both he and his father owned slaves.

Archibald Burt studied law in England and returned to Saint Christopher where he served as speaker of the house of assembly, attorney-general and chief justice.

In 1861, Burt was appointed as the colony of Western Australia's inaugural chief justice.

Archibald Burt held the position until his death in 1879 and was the patriarch of one of the so-called "six hungry families" of the colony.

Archibald Burt was born on 1 September 1810 in the British colony of Saint Christopher.

Archibald Burt was the son of Eliza Anne and George Henry Burt, a sugar planter from a prominent family on the island.

Archibald Burt's father served a term as speaker of the colonial house of assembly and owned several plantations, as well as over 100 slaves.

Archibald Burt likely spent his earliest years on his father's plantations, possibly on the Brothersons estate of 300 acres in the Capisterre district.

Archibald Burt was sent to England to attend a private school in Richmond, Surrey, and was then admitted to study law at the Middle Temple in April 1825, aged 14.

In 1835 and 1836 Archibald Burt was awarded compensation by the British government for relinquishing slaves in Saint Christopher.

Archibald Burt was called to the bar of Saint Christopher in 1830, although he had not been eligible for the bar in England as he was still under the age of majority.

Archibald Burt established a legal practice in 1833 and by 1838 had been commissioned as one of the island's few notaries public, as well as serving as an honorary aide-de-camp to the island's lieutenant-governor.

Archibald Burt was eventually called to the bar of the Middle Temple while on a trip to England in 1845.

Archibald Burt held a number of public posts on Saint Christopher, serving on the island's legislative council, executive council, and administrative committee, as well as speaker of the house of assembly.

Archibald Burt served as the island's coroner and was chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Antigua from 1855 to 1860.

Archibald Burt was identified by Willoughby Shortland in correspondence to the Colonial Office as "reputed to be the ablest lawyer in the West Indies".

In 1849, Archibald Burt was appointed attorney-general of Saint Christopher and Anguilla by lieutenant-governor Robert James Mackintosh.

Sir Archibald Burt began to look elsewhere for judicial office, eventually accepting the post of Civil Commissioner and Chairman of Quarter Sessions in Western Australia.

Archibald Burt had hoped that this would be a stepping stone to returning to his native island at a later date.

Archibald Burt arrived in Western Australia with his wife, Louisa Bryan, and five children on 29 January 1861.

Archibald Burt often gave advice to the Governor and Executive Council that was at odds with that of the Attorney General, George Frederick Stone.

Archibald Burt was no stranger to controversy in his time as Chief Justice.

Archibald Burt had been a towering figure in Western Australian society and left an indelible mark on the legal profession.

Sir Archibald Burt had not courted popularity but he had earned, for himself and the new Supreme Court, widespread respect.

In 1836, Archibald Burt married Louisa Emily Bryan, the daughter of a local physician, at St George's Anglican Church in Basseterre, Saint Christopher.

Archibald Burt was widowed in 1870 and was predeceased by two of his adult sons, who both died in 1872.

Archibald Burt died at his home in East Perth on 21 November 1879, aged 69, with his death attributed to erysipelas of the legs.

Archibald Burt has been suggested as a model for the character of Andrew Rae in Henrietta Drake-Brockman's 1937 novel Younger Sons.