Francis Forbes

He was called to the Bar in 1812 and became a Crown Law Officer in Bermuda and married Amelia Sophia Grant in 1813, returning to England in 1815.

Rather than return to Newfoundland’s maritime climate, Forbes accepted a position as Chief Justice of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land.

4. c. 96) which, along with the Charter of Justice issued under it on 13 October 1823, replaced the legal tribunals of convict days with a Supreme Court possessing comprehensive jurisdiction.

The Governor, Sir Thomas Brisbane, was impressed by Forbes, and in his dispatches of 1 July and 12 August 1824 reported that "since the arrival of the chief justice the state of the Colony has assumed a new tone".

It was proposed to pass acts for the purpose of restraining the liberty of the press, and Forbes refused to certify them as he considered them repugnant to the laws of England.

[8] After great discussion the issue went to the Colonial Office, whose legal advisors were of opinion that Forbes was right in refusing to certify the act for licensing newspapers.

On 14 October 1824, in the court of Quarter Sessions (so named because they met four times per year), 12 men who had not been convicts were sworn in as the first jurors.

After recovering from two bouts of influenza, he made it to St James Palace on 5 April 1837 to be dubbed by King William IV.

[11] His dream of a comfortable retirement at ‘Edinglassie’, a rural retreat he built on his property in the Nepean, was never realised as he needed to be close to his doctors.

[13] It was given with words of high praise: "Nothing but the highest moral firmness and integrity, combined with that genius and learning for which you are so eminently distinguished, could have overcome the opposition and difficulties which you have had to encounter.

"[17] These grateful "colonists" had raised the mighty sum of 260 pounds, 5 shillings and 6 pence (at least AUS$33,000 in 2016 money) through public donations.

This trowel was used by the first Chief Justice of NSW, Sir Francis Forbes, to lay the foundation stone of the non-denominational Sydney College on 26 January 1830. The stone was then '...allowed to lie alone like a solitary egg in a deserted nest for 18 months thereafter...' [Dow, 1974]. Sydney College closed in 1847, but was reconstituted as Sydney Grammar School in 1857. [ 5 ]
The candelabrum was presented to the Chief Justice of New South Wales by the colonists. One side of the base is engraved as follows: 'To the Honorable the Chief Justice Forbes in token of respect and esteem for his public and private virtues. The colonists of New South Wales 1836.' Below this is engraved the silversmith's name 'B. Smith Duke St. Linn. [i.e. Lincoln's] Inn Fields'. [ 13 ]