Name Atholl MacGregor | Died 1945 | |
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Sir Alasdair Duncan Atholl MacGregor KC (1883–1945) was a British lawyer and judge. He served as Attorney General in a number of British colonies in the early 20th Century. He was Chief Justice of Hong Kong from 1933 to 1945.
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MacGregor's first names
MacGregor went by the first name Atholl. In many sources this is spelt Athol. However, official announcements, such as his appointment as Chief Justice of Hong Kong, used "Atholl". Some sources also spell his first name Alisdair. Again, official announcements used Alasdair.
Early life
MacGregor was born in 1883. He attended Edinburgh University where he obtained an M.A. and Lincoln College Oxford where he obtained a B.A. He was called to the bar of Lincoln's Inn in 1909.
Appointments
MacGregor served as assistant district commissioner of Southern Nigeria from 1912 to 1914.
In 1914 he was appointed a police magistrate at Lagos and served in that position for 8 years. In 1922, he was appointed as Crown counsel and solicitor-general of Nigeria and served in that position until 1926. He was transferred to Trinidad in 1926 and then to Kenya in 1929. In both places, he served as the Attorney-General. He was made a King's Counsel in 1927 while serving in Trinidad.
In 1933 he was appointed Chief Justice of Hong Kong in succession to Joseph Horsford Kemp. As Chief Justice he was reported to "have won golden opinions on the bench where he has displayed abilities of a high order, whilst socially also he has shown himself to be a man of marked charm of personality."
In his capacity as Chief Justice of Hong Kong, he also sat as a member of the Full Court of the British Supreme Court for China in Shanghai.
MacGregor was knighted in 1935. He was made a Commander of the Grand Priory in the British Realm of the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in 1940.
Internment by Japanese during World War II
MacGregor was interned by the Japanese in Stanley Internment Camp from 1941 to 1945. During the time he continued to act as Chief Justice for the internees, including granting a number of divorces.
MacGregor survived the war, but contracted Beriberi in the camp.
His last official act as Chief Justice was to swear in Franklin Charles Gimson as acting Governor of Hong Kong following the Japanese surrender.
Death
MacGregor was carried on to the first hospital ship leaving Hong Kong for England. He died on 17 November 1945 before reaching the Suez and was buried at sea.
A letter to the Straits Times in 1937 when he was in Malaya as Chairman of a committee to study restoration of allowances to Malayan civil servants wrote of him, in what serves as a simple obituary:
"He has rendered fine service to the Empire in various Colonies and has won immense popularity wherever he has served."