John Wylde

Sir John Wylde (11 May 1781 – 13 December 1859) was Chief Justice of the Cape Colony, Cape of Good Hope and a judge of the Supreme Court of the colony of New South Wales born at Warwick Square, Newgate Street, London.

He was the eldest son of Thomas Wilde 1758-1821(NSW), attorney of Saffron Walden and Warwick Square London, founder in 1785 of Wilde Sapte, very recently Denton Wilde Sapte and now the multinational law firm Dentons and Mary Anne, née Knight. Late in life Thomas Wilde, an amateur naturalist "of some distinction", retired and taking his piano, cello and flute followed his son John to Sydney, Australia where he died 4 December 1821.

John Wylde's two younger brothers were: Thomas Wilde 1782-1855, first Lord Truro, Lord Chancellor of England' and Edward Archer Wilde 1786-1871, Solicitor of London who was father of, amongst others: James Plaisted Wilde, 1816-1899, first and last Lord Penzance; and General Sir Alfred Thomas Wilde, KCB CSI 1819-1878. Other 19th century Wildes, descendants of Thomas Wilde 1758-1821, were well-known London barristers and solicitors.

Educated at St Paul's School in London, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, Wylde was called to the Bar from the Middle Temple in 1805. It was at St. Benedict's, Cambridge, that Wylde married Elizabeth Jane, née Moore, on 16 July 1805, with whom he fathered nine children. She remained in Australia and they were divorced in 1836.

Having met with some success as a London barrister, in 1815 Wylde accepted the position of Deputy Judge Advocate of New South Wales, with a salary of approximately £1200 per annum. Wylde arrived in Sydney on 5 October of the following year on the ship Elizabeth. He was accompanied by his wife, six of his children, Joshua John Moore, his brother-in-law (who acted as Wylde's clerk), and his father, Thomas Wylde. Wylde, having considered Ellis Bent's recommendation for 'a professional person … as Clerk of the Peace' to help in his new judge advocate position, recommended his father for the role.

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