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Walter Shaw (judge)
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<h2 id="early-life">Early life</h2> <p>Born in 1863, Shaw was the second son of George Shaw, a barrister, of <a href="/facts/St_George%2527s_Square/1dAtshvY">St George's Square</a>, <a href="/facts/Pimlico/BXsluEQf">Pimlico</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> He was educated at <a href="/facts/Brighton_College/S1KyutB3">Brighton College</a>, leaving the school in 1879,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> and <a href="/facts/Trinity_College%2c_Cambridge/uI0I61Sb">Trinity College, Cambridge</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> which was his father’s old college, where he was admitted in 1882.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> </p><p>He was called to the Bar from the <a href="/facts/Middle_Temple/B5RL63SH">Middle Temple</a> in 1888.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="legal-career">Legal career</h2> <p>Shaw practiced at <a href="/facts/Common_law/vGVcW4Kf">common law</a> at the bar from 1888 until 1906.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> </p><p>In 1906, Shaw was appointed <a href="/facts/Magistrate/uTsu65g1">Police Magistrate</a> and Acting <a href="/facts/Chief_Justice_of_St_Vincent/Dd3sh0co">Chief Justice of St Vincent</a>. He became Chief Justice in 1907 and was appointed to the Executive and Legislative Councils. From 1908 to 1909 he was Acting Chief Justice of <a href="/facts/Grenada/V2kbBXcM">Grenada</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> After two years without official duties, Shaw was Acting Administrator of <a href="/facts/Saint_Vincent_(Antilles)/DN84LldJ">St Vincent</a> from 1911 to 1912, then from 1912 to 1914 was <a href="/facts/Chief_Justice_of_British_Honduras/y8eJUGyo">Chief Justice of British Honduras</a> (now <a href="/facts/Belize/2xVuhCTt">Belize</a>). Between 1914 and 1921 he served as a <a href="/facts/Puisne_judge/dVLE0DvQ">puisne judge</a> of the <a href="/facts/Supreme_Court_of_Ceylon/sLXdvxsR">Supreme Court of Ceylon</a>. He was knighted in the <a href="/facts/1921_Birthday_Honours/stgqxBWX">1921 Birthday Honours</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> </p><p>He was appointed as <a href="/facts/Chief_Justice_of_Singapore/GLBRBFAt">Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements</a> in 1921 and served in that position until his retirement in 1925.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> </p><p>When Shaw came to Singapore he introduced the custom of wearing a wig in court. Upon his retirement, he explained that it was "not because I have any desire to attire myself in fancy costume, or because I wished to give myself any special personal importance, but because I think that it tends to remind, not only the public and the Bar, but even the judge himself, that he is a representative of that very illustrious body of men – the English judges, who have done so much to establish and maintain the freedom of the English people".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="shaw-commission">Shaw Commission</h2> <p>In 1929, Shaw chaired the Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of August 1929, commonly known as the <a href="/facts/Shaw_Commission/k6ywsqmW">Shaw Commission</a>, which looked into the causes of the <a href="/facts/1929_Palestine_riots/7YVmpDpp">1929 Palestine riots</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> The Shaw Commission found that the fundamental cause of the violence "without which in our opinion disturbances either would not have occurred or would have been little more than a local riot, is the Arab feeling of animosity and hostility towards the Jews consequent upon the disappointment of their political and national aspirations and fear for their economic future".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="personal-life">Personal life</h2> <p>In 1895 Shaw married Dorothy Emma Mortimore, a daughter of Foster Mortimore. They had a son and a daughter.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> </p><p>Shaw died at home, Fenners, <a href="/facts/Wimborne/vvKDScIH">Wimborne</a>, <a href="/facts/Dorset/Nk56BJr3">Dorset</a>, on 24 April 1937.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18"><sup>18</sup></a> He was buried at <a href="/facts/Great_Canford/0XxDkzSd">Great Canford</a> on 27 April.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19"><sup>19</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="legacy">Legacy</h2> <p>Shaw Road in Singapore was either named after Shaw or another Shaw, a partner in Shaw, Whitehead and Company.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20"><sup>20</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"Sir Walter Shaw – A Distinguished Colonial Judge". The Times. 24 April 1937. p. 16. <a href="/wiki/The_Times" target="_blank">/wiki/The_Times</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>"SHAW, WALTER SIDNEY" in John Venn, John Archibald Venn, eds., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Vol. 2, Part V (Cambridge University Press, 1953), p. 482: "SHAW, WALTER SIDNEY. Adm. pens. at TRINITY, June 10, 1882. [2nd] s. of George (1843), of 71, St George's Square, London" <a href="/wiki/John_Venn" target="_blank">/wiki/John_Venn</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Brighton College Register (1847-1922) (1922), p. 125 <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Kingston Gleaner, 26 May 1937. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>"SHAW, WALTER SIDNEY" in John Venn, John Archibald Venn, eds., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Vol. 2, Part V (Cambridge University Press, 1953), p. 482: "SHAW, WALTER SIDNEY. Adm. pens. at TRINITY, June 10, 1882. [2nd] s. of George (1843), of 71, St George's Square, London" <a href="/wiki/John_Venn" target="_blank">/wiki/John_Venn</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>The Straits Times (Singapore), 4 September 1929, p. 12. <a href="/wiki/The_Straits_Times" target="_blank">/wiki/The_Straits_Times</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>The Straits Times (Singapore), 4 September 1929, p. 12. <a href="/wiki/The_Straits_Times" target="_blank">/wiki/The_Straits_Times</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>"SHAW, WALTER SIDNEY" in John Venn, John Archibald Venn, eds., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Vol. 2, Part V (Cambridge University Press, 1953), p. 482: "SHAW, WALTER SIDNEY. Adm. pens. at TRINITY, June 10, 1882. [2nd] s. of George (1843), of 71, St George's Square, London" <a href="/wiki/John_Venn" target="_blank">/wiki/John_Venn</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>"SHAW, WALTER SIDNEY" in John Venn, John Archibald Venn, eds., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Vol. 2, Part V (Cambridge University Press, 1953), p. 482: "SHAW, WALTER SIDNEY. Adm. pens. at TRINITY, June 10, 1882. [2nd] s. of George (1843), of 71, St George's Square, London" <a href="/wiki/John_Venn" target="_blank">/wiki/John_Venn</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Kingston Gleaner, 26 May 1937. <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>"No. 13745". The Edinburgh Gazette. 23 September 1921. p. 1568. <a href="https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/13745/page/1568" target="_blank">https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/13745/page/1568</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>The Straits Times (Singapore), 8 April 1925, p. 8. <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>"Sir Walter Shaw: Bar's tributes to retiring Chief Justice", The Straits Times, p. 11, 9 April 1925; "Judge who introduced full bottomed wig to Malaya: Sir Walter Shaw's fine career recalled", The Straits Times, p. 12, 26 April 1937. <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>The Commission's report was published as Report of the Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of August, 1929 [Chairman: Sir Walter Shaw; Cmnd. 3530], London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1930, OCLC 65429496. For discussion and criticism, see Horace Barnett Samuel (1930), Beneath the Whitewash: A Critical Analysis of the Report of the Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of August, 1929, [London]: Hogarth Press, OCLC 4134491; Pinhas Ofer (July 1985), "The Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of August 1929: Appointment, Terms of Reference, Procedure and Report", Middle Eastern Studies, 21 (3): 349–361, doi:10.1080/00263208508700633. <a href="/wiki/Office_of_Public_Sector_Information" target="_blank">/wiki/Office_of_Public_Sector_Information</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>Shaw Report, pp. 150–157. <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>Kingston Gleaner, 26 May 1937. <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:17"><p>"Sir Walter Shaw – A Distinguished Colonial Judge". The Times. 24 April 1937. p. 16. <a href="/wiki/The_Times" target="_blank">/wiki/The_Times</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:18"><p>"SHAW, WALTER SIDNEY" in John Venn, John Archibald Venn, eds., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Vol. 2, Part V (Cambridge University Press, 1953), p. 482: "SHAW, WALTER SIDNEY. Adm. pens. at TRINITY, June 10, 1882. [2nd] s. of George (1843), of 71, St George's Square, London" <a href="/wiki/John_Venn" target="_blank">/wiki/John_Venn</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:19"><p>"Walter Sidney Shaw" in England, Select Dorset Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1999, ancestry.co.uk, accessed 23 September 2022 (subscription required) <a href="https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/150267:9849" target="_blank">https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/150267:9849</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:20"><p>Victor R. Savage; Brenda S. A. Yeoh (2013), Singapore Street Names: A Study of Toponymics, Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, p. 344, ISBN 978-981-448474-9. <a href="978-981-448474-9" target="_blank">978-981-448474-9</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>