John Varnum Spalding (1897 – July 16, 1979)[1] was a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1944 to 1971.
[2] Born in Newton, Massachusetts,[1][3] Spalding attended the public schools there, and served in the United States Army during World War I, achieving the rank of second lieutenant in the infantry.
[3] He then returned to private practice, and was also a lecturer at the Northeastern University School of Law, and a member of the Massachusetts judicial council.
[3] On February 17, 1942, Governor Saltonstall appointed Spalding to a seat on the Massachusetts Superior Court,[2] vacated by the retirement of Justice Charles Donahue.
[1] In 1930, Spalding married Jacqueline Veen of Bordeaux, France,[4] with whom he had two children.