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Murray Buttrose

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Australian colonial judge (1903–1987)
Murray Buttrose
Born31 July 1903
Australia
Died8 September 1987 (aged 84)
Alma materAdelaide University
OccupationColonial judge
Years active1927–1977
Children1 son

Murray Buttrose (31 July 1903 – 8 September 1987) was an Australian colonial judge who served as Solicitor General of Singapore.

Early life and education

Buttrose was born on 31 July 1903 in Australia to William and Frances Buttrose, both British. He was educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide and Adelaide University, South Australia.

Career

Buttrose was admitted and enrolled as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of South Australia in 1927. During the Second World War he served as wing-commander with the Royal Air Force (1940-45). In 1946, he joined the British Colonial Service as Crown Counsel in Supreme Court of Singapore and rose to Senior Crown Counsel in 1949. During the British Military Administration, he took a leading role as prosecutor in several Japanese collaboration cases. He served as a temporary member in the Legislative Council. In 1955, he was appointed Solicitor General, Singapore and from 1956 to 1968, served as a Puisne Judge and sat as a member of the Federal Court of Appeal.

Buttrose presided over some of the biggest criminal cases in Singapore. He was described by Singapore's ambassador to France: "As a prosecutor he was very tough and was a very tough judge, very strong on order, rather hard on criminals, but fair", and by senior local lawyers as: "Very sharp and very brisk...He liked lawyers to conduct their cases with speed and not waiver about".

Two of the most memorable cases held before him were the Pulau Senang Trial (1964) in which 60 detainees of a penal settlement were charged with three counts of murder and rioting, of which 18 were given death sentences and hanged, and the Sunny Ang Trial (1965) in which the accused was hanged for murder-at-sea of his girlfriend whose body was never found.

In 1959, he served as Chairman of the Commission of the Inquiry established to investigate Chew Swee Kee, a Singaporean politician and Minister of Education, accused of receiving foreign funds.

Buttrose was admitted as a solicitor in England in 1955. He served as a Recorder of the Crown Court from 1972 to 1974, and as a Deputy Circuit Judge from 1975 to 1977. He retired to Australia.

Personal life and death

Buttrose married Jean Marie Bowering in 1935 and they had a son.

Buttrose died on 8 September 1987, aged 84.

References

  1. ^ Who was who 1981-1990 : a companion to Who's who. Internet Archive. London : A. & C. Black. 1991. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-7136-3336-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. "Appointments for Singapore". The Straits Times. 9 December 1946. p. 5.
  3. ^ "Two S'pore Judges to retire". The Straits Times. 21 December 1967. p. 1.
  4. ^ "S'pore's last expat judge Buttrose dies, 84". The Straits Times. 19 September 1987. p. 6.
  5. ^ "Mr. Justice Buttrose, Lord Asquith and the Quick Dispensation of Justice". The Straits Times. 21 July 1968. p. 18.
  6. "Colony has new judge". The Straits Times. 13 March 1951. p. 5.
  7. "Singapore City investigation adjourned". The Times. 8 April 1959. p. 13.
  8. "S'pore's last expat judge Buttrose dies, 84". The Straits Times. 19 September 1987.

External links

Photographs of Murray Buttrose at National Archives of Singapore

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