Begbie revelstoke

Judge begbie hanging judge
How many people did judge begbie hang
In November 1844, after articles at Lincoln's Inn, Begbie became a barrister and at once joined the chancery bar, practising exclusively in the chancery courts.

•

BEGBIE, Sir MATTHEW BAILLIE, judge and politician; b. 9 May 1819, probably on a British ship at the Cape of Good Hope, son of Thomas Stirling Begbie and Mary Hamilton Baillie; d. 11 June 1894 in Victoria, B.C.

Until the age of seven Matthew Baillie Begbie lived in Mauritius, where his father’s regiment was stationed. The family then returned to Great Britain and in 1830 moved to Guernsey, where Begbie was enrolled in Elizabeth College. A bright pupil, he would retain throughout his life a lively interest in virtually every subject he had been taught and a natural talent for languages. His study of mathematics undoubtedly nourished the logical mind he would employ in his judicial career. Instructed by a drawing-master, he became a proficient artist, later embellishing his notes of cases heard in the court-room with delightful pen-and-ink sketches of witnesses, spectators, and objects relating to the subject-matter of the lawsuit. He was also taught divinity at school and remained all his days a strong Anglican churchman and a considerable theologian

•

Matthew Baillie Begbie

British lawyer, politician and judge

Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie (9 May 1819 – 11 June 1894)^[1] was a British lawyer, politician, and judge. In 1858, Begbie became the first Chief Justice of the Crown Colony of British Columbia in colonial times and in the first decades after British Columbia joined Confederation as a province of Canada.

Begbie served as the first Judge of the Supreme Court, Colony of British Columbia 1858 to 1866 and then, in the same capacity in the Supreme Court, the united Colony of British Columbia from 1866 to 1870. He was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Colonies from 1870 to 1871 and then served as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the new Province of British Columbia from 1871 until his death on June 11, 1894.

In the years after his death, Begbie came to be known as the Hanging Judge.^[2]

Early life and education

The son of an Army Colonel, Begbie was born on a British ship en route to the island of Mauritius, where he lived until he was seven, returning with

•

Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie's Biography

by Sally Jennings

Chief Justice Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie used words like weapons. He berated lawbreakers even when they were armed and he was not. He scolded juries that had not made the right decision in his opinion and hoped that the freed criminal would choose one of the jurors as his next victim. He warned miscreants that if they got up to mischief, hangings would take place. He threatened wrongdoers that if they did not leave British Columbia, they would be flogged.

He also had a great sense of humour, sang opera as a tenor and played an excellent game of tennis. Of Scottish parentage and educated at Cambridge University, England, in mathematics and classics, Begbie studied law at Lincoln's Inn, London. He was well travelled and leapt at the chance to establish the law in Victoria, then a quiet Hudson's Bay outpost being flooded by gold prospectors from California. He believed in the might of British common law and upheld it in his legal robes and wig whether it was from the stump of a tree or in a log cabin in the interior of Briti