Henry Ralph Francis

Brief description

PER-193

Full description

Henry Ralph Francis was born at London on 11 July 1811. Educated at Brentford School and St. John's College, Cambridge (BA 1833, MA 1839), he was a Fellow of St. John's College from 7 April 1835 to March 1839 and a private tutor. His career continued from 1839 to 1843 as Principal of Kingston College, Hull, and from 1843 till 1855 as a private tutor at Hurley-on-the-Thames. Although he was admitted at the Inner Temple on 3 June 1844 and called to the Bar on 28 January 1848, he did not practise law in England. For two years from 1856 he studied under F O Haynes, a well-known lecturer in Equity. Francis arrived in Sydney on 11 August 1858 with his family. (1) On 2 January 1866 he described his arrival whilst appearing as a witness before the Select Committee on the Present State of the Colony. From 'long correspondence with well-informed friends resident in this Colony, and personal intercourse with them in their visits to England, I had a very fair notion before I came here, of the state of the Colony; I was not taken much by surprise'. (2)

On 27 August 1859, Francis was admitted to the New South Wales Bar. (3) To supplement his income while practising law, he contributed newspaper articles and poems to the Sydney Morning Herald. On 1 July 1861 he was made a Judge of the District Courts for the Northern District of New South Wales, and Chairman of Northern District Quarter Sessions. This District covered Armidale, Tamworth, Tenterfield, Glen Innes, Grafton, West Kempsey, Port Macquarie and Wingham. He transferred to the South-western District on 1 May 1865, an area that covered Albury, Gundagai, Tumut, Wagga Wagga, Deniliquin and Hay. (4) On 2 January 1866 he described the demands of his job before the Select Committee. 'The first year, I travelled 4,000 miles; the second, 3,000; the third, 3,500; this year I have travelled about 3,500; and next year the figures will be raised to about 5,000.... It is more easy to get anything to Sydney and from Sydney, from any other place, than to get it to or from the interior.... If I am at Deniliquin, and wish to reach Sydney, my shortest route would be to go to Melbourne'. (5) Francis was prominent in the promotion of the National Mutual Life Association of Australia after its formation in 1869, and was later a director. (6)

In 1871 his health deteriorated and he went on leave of absence without salary from 11 December, recuperating in Tasmania. He was also on leave in 1872 from 25 January to 19 April and 17 May to 8 July and 9 August to 19 October. In 1873 he took twelve months leave, visiting England. Although he returned to his role as District Court Judge and Chairman of Quarter Sessions of the South-western District in 1874, family problems and ill health saw him take leave from 9 January 1875 until his retirement on 7 June 1875. He returned to England where he made his living writing about his hobby of fly-fishing and Australia. He died at Bath, England, on 10 June 1900. (7)

Endnotes:
(1) HTE Holt, 'Henry Ralph Francis'; in A Court Rises : the lives and times of the Judges of the District Court of New South Wales (1859-1959), North Sydney, Law Foundation of New South Wales, 1976, pp.69-72; HJ Gibbney and Ann G Smith (eds), Biographical Register 1788-1939, Canberra, Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1987, Vol.1, p.242.
(2) 'Progress Report from the Select Committee on the Present State of the Colony', Ordered to be printed 28 March 1866. New South Wales Parliament, Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings 1865-6, Vol.3, pp.679, 686.
(3) Supreme Court; NRS 13664, Roll of Barristers and Solicitors, 1824-1876, SR Fiche 852, p.7A.
(4) Public Service Lists (Blue Books), 1861, pp.88-89; 1865, pp.41-2; New South Wales Government Gazette No.179, 25 July 1861, p.1594.
(5) Progress Report, op.cit., pp.679, 686.
(6) HTE Holt, op.cit., p.71.
(7) Public Service Lists (Blue Books), op.cit., 1871, pp.45-6; 1872, pp.47-48; 1873, p.49; 1874, pp.43, 52; 1875, pp.45, 56; New South Wales Parliament, Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings 1870-71, Vol.1, p.486 (10 February 1871); HTE Holt, op.cit., p.72.

Notes

Judge of the District Courts for the Northern District of New South Wales, 01/07/1861 - 30/04/1865
Chairman of the Northern District Quarter Sessions, 01/07/1861 - 30/04/1865
Judge of the District Courts for the South-western District of New South Wales, 01/05/1865 - 07/06/1875
Chairman of the South-western District Quarter Sessions, 01/05/1865 - 07/06/1875