Ronald Ormiston Sinclair

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.[1] He was educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School and the University of Auckland before moving to Britain to study at Balliol College, Oxford.[2] On graduation he returned to New Zealand and was called to the New Zealand Bar in 1924.[3] He entered the Colonial Service in 1931 and worked as a Magistrate in Nigeria until 1938.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] He retired from service in 1964 and died in New Zealand in 1996.