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Erima Northcroft

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New Zealand lawyer, judge and military leader

The HonourableSir Erima NorthcroftDSO VD
BornErima Harvey Northcroft
(1884-12-02)2 December 1884
Hokitika, New Zealand
Died10 October 1953(1953-10-10) (aged 68)
Christchurch, New Zealand
Alma materAuckland University College
Spouse Violet Constance Mitchell ​ ​(m. 1908)​
Children2 daughters
RelativesNancy Northcroft (daughter)

Sir Erima Harvey Northcroft DSO VD (2 December 1884 – 10 October 1953) was a New Zealand lawyer, judge, and military leader. His papers from the Tokyo War Crimes Trial are held by the University of Canterbury.

Biography

Northcroft was born in Hokitika, New Zealand. He attended Auckland University College and began his law practice in Hamilton. In 1912, Northcroft was a founding member of the Hamilton District Law Society and later became its president.

During World War I, Northcroft was an artillery officer in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in the 1919 King's Birthday Honours. The same year he returned to New Zealand, resumed his law practice, and joined an Auckland law firm in 1923. From 1927 to 1933, Northcroft was a deputy judge advocate general in the New Zealand Army and from 1933 to 1935 was a Judge Advocate General.

He was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935. Also in 1935, Northcroft was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand at Christchurch, a superior trial court. In his court, he was styled "The Honourable Mr Justice Northcroft".

After the Second World War, Northcroft was appointed as the New Zealand judge on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo. In recognition of this service, Northcroft was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 1949 King's Birthday Honours. After returning from Japan, he resumed sitting as a Supreme Court judge, and occasionally sat as a judge of the New Zealand Court of Appeal. In 1953, Northcroft was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.

Northcroft died in Christchurch on 10 October 1953. He had married Violet Constance Mitchell in Auckland in 1908, and the couple had two daughters. One of his daughters was town planner Nancy Northcroft. The botanist and physician Earle Northcroft was his cousin.

After his death his papers went to the Justice Erima Harvey Northcroft Tokyo War Crimes Trial Collection at the University of Canterbury, which was added to the Asia Pacific regional section of the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2010.

References

  1. ^ Barton, G.P. "Northcroft, Erima Harvey". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  2. "No. 31370". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1919. p. 6822.
  3. "Official jubilee medals". The Evening Post. Vol. CXIX, no. 105. 6 May 1935. p. 4. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  4. "No. 38629". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 June 1949. p. 2829.
  5. "Coronation Medal" (PDF). Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette. No. 37. 3 July 1953. pp. 1021–1035. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  6. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. "Northcroft, Anna Holmes". teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  7. "Obituary Dr E.F. Northcroft". Press. 12 June 1962. p. 10. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  8. "UC's war crime archive receives international recognition". University of Canterbury. 27 April 2010. Archived from the original on 23 October 2016.
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