Archibald Burt

Sir Archibald Paull Burt QC (1810 – 21 November 1879) was a British lawyer from the colonies of the West Indies, and was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of Western Australia.

Archibald Paull Burt was born in 1810, in St Christopher (present day St Kitts and Nevis) in the West Indies. He was the son of the Hon.George Henry Burt, sugar planter and Speaker of the House Assembly of St.Christopher. He was educated in England where he qualified as a lawyer at the Middle Temple. He returned to his native island in 1835 where he practised as a barrister. Following in his fathers footsteps he held the position of Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Islands and in 1848 he was made Attorney General of St Christopher and Anguilla and Queen's Counsel.

In 1857 he briefly occupied the position of Chief Justice on his native island but the appointment was not confirmed by the Colonial Office as policy did not favour the appointment of locally born barristers to the judiciary. Sir Archibald began to look elsewhere for judicial office, eventually accepting the post of Civil Commissioner and Chairman of Quarter Sessions in Western Australia. He had hoped that this would be a stepping stone to returning to his native island at a later date.

He arrived in Western Australia with his wife, Louisa Bryan, and five children on 29 January 1861. In June of that year, the Supreme Court ordinance was proclaimed, thus establishing the Supreme Court of Western Australia. Sir Archibald was appointed Chief Justice and Advocate General.

The initial years of the Supreme Court were characterised mainly by the lack of work. Western Australia was a small colony with few legal issues. Civil work consisted mainly of insolvency and probate, and criminal offences were rare. The size of the profession was so small that only four barristers actively practised in Perth in the early 1860s.

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