Joseph Garrick

Joseph Hector Garrick (Sydney, New South Wales, 8 December 1846^[1] — 23 February 1908^[2]), was an Australian lawyer who served as a judge on the benches of the Kingdom of Viti, the first Fijian nation-state.^[3] Having arrived in 1873, Garrick was associated with the events leading up to the cession of the islands to the United Kingdom in 1874.^[4]

Following cession, Garrick was appointed Chief Police Magistrate and Registrar General on 1 September 1875.^[5] He went on to serve as Attorney General of Fiji from 25 November 1876^[6] to 1882.

After retiring from government service, he continued to practice Law privately in Levuka, and was still doing so as of 1889.^[7]

Personal life

Garrick was born in Sydney to James Francis Garrick and his wife Catherine Eliza Branson, both formerly of London.^[8] He was a younger brother to the New Zealand politician Francis James Garrick^[9] and the Queensland politician James Francis Garrick.

Garrick married Emily Constance Agnew in Sydney, in 1868. They had two children, Hector and Constance,^[10] but the marriage ended in divorce. On 22 July 1880, Garrick was co-respondent in a divorce suit initiated by barrister William Scott, who accused Garrick of having committed adultery with his wife, Emma Elizabeth Scott, née Milne. The court granted Scott's suit and £1000 damages.^[11][12] Garrick subsequently remarried to Milne in Sydney 1881; he had two more children with her — Godfrey Ernest and Gladys Neville.^[13]

Garrick died 23 February 1908.

References