Donald Kingdon


Sir Donald Kingdon was a British judicial officer who served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria from 1929 to 1946.
He remains Nigeria's longest serving Chief Justice. He served under four colonial Governors: Graeme Thomson, Donald Cameron, Bernard Bourdillon and Arthur Richards. He had previously served as the Attorney-General of Nigeria, from 1919 to 1925. He also edited and or composed several authoritative books about West African laws.

Early life

Kingdon was born in November 1883. He was the son of Walter Kingdon. He was educated at Eastbourne College, and at St John's College, Cambridge.

Career

Kingdon worked for the Colonial Service in The Gambia as an Inspector of Schools and Legal Assistant, he was later appointed as a member of the country's Legislative Council. He was Attorney-General of Uganda, and in 1918, he was appointed as Attorney-General of the Gold Coast.
Between 1929 and 1930, two women led revolts against taxation in Calabar and Owerri Provinces claimed the lives of 55 people. In 1930, Kingdon was appointed as head of a commission to investigate the riots. The commission report's noted inadequate police training and undue restriction placed on the police in the investigation of criminal activities contributed to the breakdown of law and order in those provinces.
He was a Knight Bachelor.

Issue

Donald Kingdon married Kathleen Moody. Kathleen was the daughter of Charles Edmund Moody, a businessman, and the granddaughter of Major-General Richard Clement Moody, the founder of British Columbia, and Mary Hawks of the Hawks dynasty.
Kingdon and Kathleen Moody had 3 children: