Alexander Shand (barrister)
Alexander Barclay Shand was an Australian barrister and King's Counsel. He became a leading legal figure in NSW. Shand refused an invitation to become a New South Wales Supreme Court Judge but served as a Royal Commissioner.Biography
Shand was born in Ulladulla, New South Wales, to John Shand and Mary. John Shand had arrived in Sydney in 1853 as a stonemason before becoming a farmer and finally a police magistrate at Penrith Court. Shand Snr founded a legal dynasty that produced three generations of barristers. A. B. Shand, as he came to be known, was educated at Newington College commencing in 1880. He went up to the University of Sydney and graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1884. Following graduation and articles, Shand was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1887. He was the Crown Prosecutor on the NSW western circuit in 1895-6 and took silk in 1906. He became a leading member of the Bar Council. His wife, Florence, became a tireless worker for the poor and infirm and sat on the boards of various hospitals, schools and women’s auxiliaries. She died in October 1929. Mrs Shand was the sister of Louisa Victoria, Mrs Cecil Purser. Shand retired in 1930 and lived in retirement in Vaucluse, New South Wales, until his death at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney.
