LETTER, UNSIGNED COPY, FROM INHABITANTS OF ST CHRISTOPHER TO ARCHIBALD PAULL BURT, 1874
1874Letter, unbound and unsigned copy of 1874 letter from inhabitants of St Christopher to AP Burt (2022.35a). White sheet of paper folded in half with writing in black ink on three pages. Previously folded into quarters, three crease marks visible down length. Tears along middle crease at base and top. Significant insect damage to top half of back page. Small hole top right corner.
Sir Archibald Paull Burt (1810-1879) was born into a plantation-owning family on St Kitts Island (formerly St Christopher in the West Indies). Burt accepted the position of Civil Commissioner and Chairman of Quarter Sessions in Western Australia in 1860. In January 1861 he arrived in Western Australia with his family. Burt was instrumental in establishing the Supreme Court Australia in 1861 and became the first Chief Justice of Western Australia. Knighted for his contributions in 1873, he maintained a secluded life to ensure impartiality and professional detachment as sole judge in the colony until his death in 1879. Archibald Paull Burt’s impact and lasting legacy in Western Australia continues through his family members who have held governmental and legislative roles in the state for multiple generations.
Details
Details
This document is of historic interest demonstrating the high regard in which Archibald Burt continued to be held by the inhabitants of his birthplace, St Christopher in the West Indies, even though he had left 14 years earlier.
After his brief visit back to St Christopher in 1874, Burt returned to Perth where he died in 1879 while still in office as Chief Justice. An obituary published in the West Australian newspaper mentions the warm welcome he received on his trip back to the West Indies five years earlier and noted this matched the high regard that had also been held for him in Western Australia.
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