Sir Leonard Joseph Knowles, CBE (15 March 1916 – 23 September 1999)[1] was the first Chief Justice of an independent Bahamas.
[citation needed] Knowles worked on Northern Circuit in Liverpool.
[5] In 1973, he became the first Chief Justice in the newly independent Bahamas, a position he held until 1978.
[6][7] He had to be sworn in before the Bahamian Independence Day on 10 July 1973 because it was his duty to swear in the first prime minister.
[8] After his retirement, he moved to the United States to live with his son in Macon, Georgia.