Charles St Julian

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Sir Charles St Julian
1st Chief Justice of Fiji
In office
1872 – 27 August 1874
MonarchSeru Epenisa Cakobau
Preceded byCharles Rossiter Forwood
(acting)
Succeeded bySir William Hackett
Personal details
Born
Charles Trout

10 May 1819
Ovalau
CitizenshipBritish
Spouse(s)1. Eleanor Heffernan
(26 November 1839 — 28 August 1861, her death)
2. Eliza Winifred Hawkesley
(10 January 1863 — 26 November 1874, his death)
Children9 daughters, 6 sons[1]
ProfessionJournalist, editor

Charles James Herbert de Courcy St Julian (10 May 1819 – 26 November 1874) was a journalist, newspaper owner-editor and the first Chief Justice of Fiji.[2]

St Julian's obituary records that he was born in France but other sources suggest London in 1818.[3] He claimed to be the son of Thomas St Julian, French army officer, and his wife Marian, née Blackwell. However, the Australian academic, Marion Diamond, in her biography of St Julian, claims that he deliberately obscured his origins and that it is likely that his real name was Charles Trout and that his initial training was as a wood and ivory carver.[4]

St Julian emigrated to

The Sydney Chronicle
, afterwards known as the Free Press. In 1849 he rejoined The Sydney Morning Herald.

St Julian participated in municipal politics, serving on the

Waverley council in 1860 and as its chairman in 1861. He went on to serve as an alderman on the Marrickville Borough Council from 1868 to 1871, and as Mayor from 1868-1869 and again in 1871. In February 1870, he became a magistrate.[6]

In 1849, St Julian was appointed the Hawaiian Kingdom's Consul in Sydney by King Kamehameha III and Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Crichton Wyllie. On August 4, 1853, he was appointed as "His Majesty's Commissioner, and Political and Commercial Agent to the Kings, Chiefs and Rulers of the Islands in the Pacific Ocean, not under the protection or sovereignty of any European Government". In 1859, he was appointed as "His Hawaiian Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires and Consul General to the Kings and Ruling Chiefs of the Independent States and Tribes in Polynesia South of the Equator". Corresponding with Wylie on many grandiose ideas to extend Hawaii's power in Oceania, he accomplished nothing significant but later inspired King Kalākaua's vision of a Polynesian confederacy in the 1880s.[7][8]

St. Julian remained as Law Reporter for the Herald until 1872, when King Seru Epenisa Cakobau appointed him Chief Justice of Fiji. When Fiji became a British colony in 1874, Governor Sir Hercules Robinson proposed an annual pension of £200 for him,[9] but he died near Levuka, Fiji on 26 November 1874.[5]

Personal life

St Julian was a

People's Advocate and New South Wales Vindicator, Edward John Hawksley.[10] Altogether, he had fifteen children — nine with Eleanor and six with Eliza.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "SIR CHARLES Janies Herbert De Coucy St. Julian". Geni. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  2. ^ Lyons, Mark; Nothing, Marion. "St Julian, Charles James Herbert de Courcy (1819–1874)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  3. ^ "Death of the late Chief Justice of Fiji". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 22 December 1874. p. 5. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  4. .
  5. ^ a b Mennell, Philip (1892). "St. Julian, Charles James Herbert" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
  6. ^ Lyons, Mark; Nothing, Marion. "St Julian, Charles James Herbert de Courcy (1819–1874)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  7. .
  8. .
  9. ^ Great Britain, Parliament., House of Commons (1875). "Sir Hercules Robinson, K.C.M.G., to the Earl of Carnavon". Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons, Volume 52. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  10. ^ Lyons, Mark; Nothing, Marion. "St Julian, Charles James Herbert de Courcy (1819–1874)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
Civic offices
Preceded by
Chairman of the Waverley Municipal Council

1861 – 1862
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Samuel Payten
as Chairman
Mayor of Marrickville
1868 – 1870
Succeeded by
Joseph Graham
Preceded by
Joseph Graham
Mayor of Marrickville
1871 – 1872
Succeeded by
Charles Teeson
Legal offices
Preceded by Chief Justice of Fiji
1872 – 1874
Succeeded by