Ronald Sinclair (judge)

Sir Ronald Ormiston Sinclair (2 May 1903 – 1996) was a New Zealand lawyer and judge who served in the British Colonial Service.

Biography

Sinclair was born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1903 the son of Reverend William Sinclair, who had emigrated to New Zealand from Britain in 1855. He was educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School and the University of Auckland before moving to Britain to study at Balliol College, Oxford. On graduation he returned to New Zealand and was called to the New Zealand Bar in 1924. He entered the Colonial Service in 1931 and worked as a Magistrate in Nigeria until 1938. He then moved to Northern Rhodesia where he was appointed Resident Magistrate. He was called to the Bar in England by the Middle Temple in 1939. In 1946 he was promoted to a Puisne Judge in Tanganyika and remained in the post until 1953 when he was again advanced, this time to Chief Justice of Nyasaland. Sinclair became Vice-President of the Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa in 1956 and that same year was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours. He assumed the office of Chief Justice of Kenya in 1957 and remained in office until 1963 when he became President of the Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa. He retired from service in 1964 and died in New Zealand in 1996.