Frederick Mann

The Honourable Sir Frederick Mann KCMG
Chief Justice of Victoria
In office 1935 – January 1944
Preceded by	William Irvine
Succeeded by	Sir Edmund Herring
Lieutenant Governor of Victoria
In office 22 July 1919 – 12 May 1936
Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria
In office 22 July 1919 – 1935
Personal details
Born	2 May 1869 Mount Gambier, South Australia
Died	29 May 1958 South Yarra, Victoria

Sir Frederick Wollaston Mann KCMG (2 May 1869 – 29 May 1958) was the chief justice of the Australian state of Victoria between 1 October 1935 and 31 January 1944. He was also Victoria’s lieutenant governor between 12 May 1936 and May 1945. Mann was nicknamed the “Little Gentleman” because of his height (he was 168 cm tall) and he was unfailingly courteous. He had a reputation of being a careful judge delivering decisions of precision and clarity. In 1935, he became the first Australian born person to become chief justice of Victoria.

Mann was born at Mount Gambier, South Australia. He was the son of Gilbert Hill Cheke Mann and Sophia Charlotte Mann (nee Wollaston). Mann’s maternal grandfather was John Ramsden Wollaston, a pioneering Anglican archdeacon in Western Australia. Mann’s younger brother was to become an icon of early Australian radio broadcasting. Mann began his education at Christ Church Grammar School in Mount Gambier. Later he transferred to the public education system when he transferred to Mount Gambier Public School. After leaving school, he studied privately at home.

He left South Australia and moved to Melbourne in 1887 where he obtained work as a tally clerk. He then worked as a clerk in the Crown Law Department of the Victorian Government. Whilst working, he studied at the University of Melbourne and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1894. In 1895 he won the Supreme Court prize at the University of Melbourne. He completed his Bachelor of Laws in 1896 and a Master of Laws in 1898. He was called to the Victorian Bar in 1896 but continued working for the State Government rather than practice in his own right.

He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 4th Victorian Battalion of the Australian Imperial Regiment known as the “4th Vic.Imperial Bushmen “ He departed Melbourne on 1 May 1900 in the transport “Victorian’. He served in the Boer War for sixteen months until he was wounded at Hartbeesfontein on 16 February 1901. He was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal. On his return to Australia in November, he set up chambers in Melbourne as a barrister. As a barrister, he specialized in both common law and Equity cases, and became known for his “careful cross-examination technique”.

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