Barnes Peacock

Sir George Barnes Peacock (1805 – 3 December 1890) was an English judge. He was the first Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court in India.

Peacock was the son of Lewis Peacock, a solicitor. After practising as a special pleader, he was called to the bar in 1836 by the Inner Temple, and joined the Home Circuit.[1] In 1844 he obtained great reputation by pointing out the flaw which invalidated the conviction of Daniel O'Connell and his fellow defendants.[2] He took silk in 1850, and was elected a bencher of the Inner Temple the same year.[1]

In 1852, Peacock went to India as a legal member of the Governor General's Council. The Legislative Council was established soon after his arrival, and although no orator, he was so frequent a speaker that legislation enjoining councillors to deliver their speeches sitting was said to have been devised with the sole object of restraining him.[2] As a member of Lord Dalhousie's council he supported the annexation of Oudh, and he stood by Lord Canning all through the Indian Mutiny.[2]

In 1859 Peacock became the last Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William, and was knighted.[1] He was appointed as the first Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court on 1 July 1862. He returned to England in 1870 and in 1872 was appointed as a paid member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the court of last resort for the British Empire.[2]

Notes

1. Hamilton, J. A.; Stearn, Roger T. "Peacock, Sir Barnes (1810–1890)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21670. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. Chisholm 1911, p. 20.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Peacock, Sir Barnes". Encyclopædia Britannica. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 20.

External links

• Brief History of the Calcutta High Court