Percy McElwaine

Sir Percy Alexander McElwaine (1884-1969) was born on the 21st of September 1884 in Roscommon, Ireland.

Educated at Campbell College, Belfast and Trinity College Dublin. Irish bar in 1908, Alberta bar in 1913. First World War temporary lieutenant in the Royal Irish Rifles. Coroner in Kenya and Fiji. Kings Council in Northern Ireland in 1929. 1930 was working as a Deputy Public Prosecutor in Singapore. Attorney General of the Straits Settlements 1933, Chief Justice Straits Settlements 1936--1946. Knighted in 1939. His photograph is featured in a display at the former Court House of Singapore, now called The Arts House.

In 1927 he was appointed Attorney General of Fiji by the governor Sir Eyre Hutson, holding the position until 1931, later became the Chief Justice of the peace in Singapore. During WW2 he was imprisoned for 3 years in Changi Prison, where he wrote a diary which is now kept at the National War Museum in London.

He died on 19th September 1969 (although the date is given in Singapore records as 24th October 1969) in Devon, at the age of 82.