Alfred Adderley
Bahamian lawyer and Member of Parliament
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Alfred Francis Adderley (16 November 1891–16 June 1953) (often cited as A. F. Adderley) was a Bahamian lawyer, Member of Parliament and acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. His son was the Attorney-General, Paul Adderley.
Early life and education
Adderley was born in Nassau, Bahamas on 16 November 1891.[1][2] He was the son of parliamentarian Wilfred P. Adderley[2][3] and his wife Letitia (née McMinn).[4] He was his parents' only child but he had older half-siblings from his mother's first marriage.[4] Adderley attended Boys’ Central School and Nassau Grammar School.[1] He then went abroad to Denstone College in Staffordshire, England from 1908-1911.[5]
He obtained a bachelors of arts and a bachelors of law from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge[1] in 1926.[6]
Career
Adderley was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple on 14 May 1919.[3] He returned to the Bahamas where he went on to become a renowned trial attorney, known for his work on cases such as the Forrester Scott-Stanley Boynton kidnapping case,[7][8][3] an assault on Errol Flynn[9][10] and the murder of Sir Harry Oakes.[10][11][12]
He was elected to the House of Assembly in 1923.[11][12][13] In 1938, he was appointed to the Legislative Council.[7][13][14] In 1946, he became the first black person appointed to the Executive Council.[4] He served as Acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1951, becoming in the process the country's first black chief justice.[9][10][15]
He was the founder and first president of the Bahamas Amateur Athletic Association,[1] the founder of the Bahamas Cricket Association[4] and also Vice President of the Bahamas Olympic Association.[1]
Honours
In 1951, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the King’s Birthday Honours.[16]