John McNeill (lawyer)

John McNeil QC (1899–1982) served as Crown Advocate of the British Supreme Court for China from 1940 to 1942. He also served as the Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association on three occasions in the 1950s.

John McNeill

QC
British Crown Advocate for China
In office
1940–1942
Preceded byVictor Priestwood
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
Born(1899-05-18)18 May 1899
Died14 March 1982(1982-03-14) (aged 82)

Early life

McNeill was born on 18 May 1899. He was the younger but only surviving son of Duncan McNeill, a barrister practising in Shanghai by his wife Emilie Margaret (Daisy) Waddington.[1] His maternal aunt was the artist Vera Waddington (1876–1954)[2] The McNeills came from the ancient Highland family, the McNeills of Colonsay. One of their forebears Lord Colonsay had been Lord Advocate of Scotland[3]

Acting Chief Justice Ernest Williams and John McNeill KC (right) on McNeill's admission as a King's Counsel in 1950

John McNeill was educated at Charterhouse School and Trinity College, Oxford where he studied Classics and took an honours degree in Litterae Humaniores (Greats). He also gained a half blue for fencing. During World War I he signed up to join the army despite not having finished his studies and in December 1917 he joined the Guards Brigade. In the spring of 1918 he obtained a commission in the Royal Highlanders, Black Watch, and served in France and Germany with the first Battalion.[4] After demobilisation he returned to Oxford and in 1923 was called to the bar of the Inner Temple and then practised as a barrister in London.[5]

In 1926 McNeill moved to Shanghai to practice before the British Supreme Court for China. He was admitted by judge Peter Grain on the motion of the Crown Advocate, Allan Mossop.[6]

In 1937, he acted as Crown Advocate of the court in the absence of the Crown Advocate, Victor Priestwood. In 1939, Priestwood's appointment as Crown Advocate was terminated. After acting in the position for a few months, McNeil was appointed the Crown Advocate with effect from 1 January 1940.[7]

On 8 December 1941, Japanese troops occupied the court house of the British Supreme Court in Shanghai. McNeill was interned for 5 months before being repatriated to England.[8] HIs appointment as Crown Advocate was formally terminated in 1942.[9]

After the war, he went to the bar in Hong Kong. He became a King's Counsel (K.C.) in Hong Kong in 1950 (and a Queen's Counsel (Q.C.) when Queen Elizabeth II became Queen in 1952). He was Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association in 1952, 1955–1956 and 1958.[10]

Daughter's marriage
McNeill's wife, Amy, and his daughter, Jane, in Shanghai in 1938

McNeill married the former Amy Yvonne Maynard (d.1977) a concert pianist, daughter of Francis Maynard, in 1927. Their only daughter, Jane (19 December 1929 – 18 April 2011), became a model and in 1953 at the age of 23, married the Earl of Dalkeith who was later to become the Duke of Buccleuch, making her the Duchess of Buccleuch. McNeill gave her away at the wedding which was attended by the Queen.[11]

Retirement

McNeill retired to Scotland in 1960.[12] His wife died in 1977, and he died on 14 March 1982.[13]

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Further reading
  • Clark, Douglas (2015). Gunboat Justice: British and American Law Courts in China and Japan (1842–1943). Hong Kong: Earnshaw Books., Vol. 1: ISBN 978-988-82730-8-9; Vol. 2: ISBN 978-988-82730-9-6; Vol. 3: ISBN 978-988-82731-9-5

References
  1. His parents married 1893 in Tokyo, Japan. Margaret. Daisy Waddington (1864–1953) was the eldest child and eldest daughter of Major General Thomas Waddington , Indian Army, and the elder sister of Lt. Col.Charles Willoughby Waddington(1865–1946), sometime Headmaster of Mayo College, Ajmer (India's Eton) 1903–1917
  2. Vera Waddington biography.Vera Waddington's family, and a family group photograph circa 1889
  3. thepeerage.com, page 6828
  4. thepeerage.com, page 6828
  5. Inner Temple Admissions Database.
  6. North China Herald, 6 February 1926, p268 (col. 2)
  7. North China Herald, 27 September 1939, p532; Foreign Office List 1943, p255
  8. Report Relating to His Britannic Majesty's Supreme Court in Japanese Occupied China, dated 24 September 1942, FO369/2719
  9. FO 369/2719 (ref K 12500/1809/210)
  10. South China Morning Post & the Hongkong Telegraph; 12 April 1960, p7
  11. New Scotsman, 28 April 2011, Obituaries of Jane, Dowager Duchess of Buccleuch [Tam Dalyell. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jane-duchess-of-buccleuch-model-turned-politicianrsquos-wife-whose-efforts-helped-pave-the-way-for-2274654.html Jane, Duchess of Buccleuch, The Independent, 26 April 2011]
  12. South China Morning Post & the Hongkong Telegraph; 12 April 1960, p7
  13. Ancestry of the present Duke of Buccleuch and his heir the Earl of Dalkeith, published 3 May 2014. Not verified.
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