John Gorrie (judge)
Sir John Gorrie (30 March 1829 – 4 August 1892) was a British judge who served in many colonies during the 19th century. He was born in Kingskettle, Fife, Scotland, to the Reverend Daniel Gorrie and Jane Moffat. He studied locally, at Madras College, St Andrews, and the University of Edinburgh, and became a lawyer in Scotland in 1856.
In 1862 he worked as a leader-writer for the Morning Star. In 1865 he helped Jamaica by representing the Jamaica Committee before a Royal Commission during the Eyre disturbances.
After returning to London, he moved to public service in 1869 as Substitute Procureur-General in Mauritius, and soon after became a Puisne judge. He protected both Creoles and Indian indentured workers from oppression.
In 1876 he became Chief Justice of Fiji. There he studied the local language and helped bring in a system for secure land titles (the Torrens system). He also served as Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific and acted as High Commissioner for more than a year.
He was knighted in 1882 and became Chief Justice of the Leeward Islands. There he helped end unfair practices that favored merchants in London and worked to secure better land laws for locals. In 1885 he was appointed Chief Justice of Trinidad (moving there in 1886) and Tobago after Tobago joined Trinidad in 1889. In Trinidad and Tobago he tried to make the courts fair and accessible and to improve life for the black population.
His reforms angered some local elites, and a commission looked into his administration. He was suspended in 1892 while the case went to London, and he returned to Britain to defend himself, but died shortly after arriving on 4 August 1892.
Personal life: He married Marion Graham in 1855. They had a daughter, Isabella Jane Gorrie, who married Hamilton Hunter, and a son, Malcolm Graham, who also trained as a lawyer.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:03 (CET).