Havilland de Sausmarez

Havilland de Sausmarez, Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China and Corea

Sir Havilland Walter de Sausmarez, 1st Baronet (1861–1941) was a judge of various British colonial or consular courts in Africa and Asia, the Ottoman Empire and China.

Early life

Sausmarez was born on 30 May 1861, the son of the Rev. Havilland de Sausmarez by his marriage to Anne Priaulx Walters. He was a scholar at Westminster, where he had a fine athletic record, including being Head of the Water. From there he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he continued his career as an athlete and graduated BA in 1883. In 1881, while still at Cambridge, he was admitted to the Inner Temple and was called to the Bar in November 1884. He practised as a barrister in England on the Southern Eastern Circuit and then moved to Africa, where he began to practise in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1891. He was acting Queen's Advocate of the Colony of Lagos from June 1891 to January 1892.

Judicial appointments

Caricature of Sir Havilland de Sausmarez from the Eastern Sketch

De Sausmarez joined the Foreign Office Judicial Service when he was appointed a Consul in Zanzibar in June 1892. He held the office of Assistant Judge of the Consular Court in Zanzibar from 1893–97 and then held the office of Assistant Judge of the Supreme Consular Court for the Ottoman Empire between December 1897 and 1903. He was appointed Judge of the Supreme Consular Court for the Ottoman Empire in 1903 and served until 1905. He was knighted in 1905.

In 1905, de Sausmarez was appointed Judge of the British Supreme Court for China and Corea (based in Shanghai). He served in that position until 1921. By virtue of his position as Judge of the Supreme Court at Shanghai he served as President of the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong from 1910 to 1920. The Ordinance creating the Full Court provided that the most senior judge on the bench would be President of the Full Court when it sat. He was knighted in 1905.

Return to Guernsey

Sausmarez retired in 1920 and was succeeded by Skinner Turner. After leaving Shanghai, Sausmarez took up his residence at the Sausmarez Manor in Guernsey. As Seigneur of the manor of Sausmarez and as Chatelain of Jerbourg, he held the titular office of Third Cup-bearer to the Duke of Normandy, held by his forebears for many centuries. In 1922 he was appointed Bailiff of Guernsey, a position he maintained until 1929.

His wife, Annie, Lady de Sausmarez, GBE, was a philanthropist.

Portraits

The following are links to portraits of Sir Havilland:

• By Frank Cadogan Cowper (standing in court dress but without robe on)
• By Mary Macleod (in red judicial robes)
• By Mary Macleod (Standing in court dress)

De Sausmarez Baronetcy

The de Sausmarez Baronetcy, of Jerburg in Guernsey, was created on 26 June 1928 for Havilland de Sausmarez. He died in March 1941 without issue and the title became extinct upon his death.

Further reading

• Clark, Douglas (2015). Gunboat Justice: British and American Law Courts in China and Japan (1842-1943). Hong Kong: Earnshaw Books., Vol. 1: ISBN 978-988-82730-8-9; Vol. 2: ISBN 978-988-82730-9-6; Vol. 3: ISBN 978-988-82731-9-5