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Name: HARRAGIN, Walter CMG, QC, Sir
Birth Date: 23 Dec 1890 Georgetown, British Guiana
Death Date: 26 June 1966 Lambeth
First Date: 1933
Last Date: 1944
Profession: Attorney General, Kenya in 1939, appointed 1933. Clerk of the Peace & Sub-Registrar, Trinidad 1914-19, Magistrate Trinidad 1919-24, Crown Counsel, Trinidad 1924-27; Attorney General, Nyasaland 1927-33
Area: Nairobi
Married: 1. In Berkhamsted 10 June 1919 Marjorie Howard Hardy b. 3 Oct 1892 Kensington, d. 2 Mar 1985 Kensington; 2. In Johannesburg 18 Sep 1952 Mrs Anne Macdonald Thompson née Russell, widow, b. 1895
Children: William Lee (b. 1925, m. Petal Erskine); Austin Piercy (1927 Hemel Hempstead-Nairobi from polio 1954) ; Katherine M. (20 Jan 1920-1994, m. Brig. Michael Biggs); Jocelyn Anne (14 Mar 1921 Nairobi-2008)
Book Reference: Staff 39, Who's Who, Vulture, Tignor, Mischief, Debrett, Colonial, Nicholls, Barnes
War Service: European War in France as Major RFA
School: Berkhampsted Sch., Barrister-at-Law (Gray's Inn)
General Information:
Staff 39 - Acting Chief Secretary in 1939
Who's Who - Legal Adviser to the High Commissioner and Judge High Comm. Terr. since 1948; called to Bar 1912; Private Practice Trinidad 1912; Joined Army 1915 served in France, RFA (Major) Magistrate Trinidad 1919, Crown Counsel Trinidad 1923; Att. Gen. Nyasaland 1927; Actg. Chief Sec. Kenya 1938 and 1939; Acting Gov. 1939; Attorney General Kenya 1933-44; Chief Justice Gold Coast 1944-48; Acting Chief Justice N-R 1953; Pres. W. African Court of Appeal; Chief Justice High Comm. Terr. Bech., Basutoland & Swaziland; Cr. Knt. Bachelor 1945, CMG 1941. Retired to S. Africa
Mischief - Attorney General at time of murder of Lord Erroll - a tall, pale man with greying hair. ...... 'Harragin was a strange fellow', said Superintendent Poppy, 'Very fond of curry. When he came to lunch with you he'd take off his jacket to show he was expecting to sweat from the curry you were going to give him.' He thought it was possible that Harragin would have become Chief Justice of Kenya if he had managed to convict Broughton, and he must have taken the acquittal hard.
Nicholls - On the outbreak of war Governor Brooke-Popham, an ex-RAF man, thought his talents would be better employed in the RAF at home and resigned his post. Walter Harragin, Attorney-General and lately Acting Colonial Secretary, took over as Acting Governor. It was a popular appointment, for his tall, dark and humorous wife Marjorie was well liked and his beautiful daughters graced Torr's Hotel, still the hub of Nairobi social life.
Retired to S. Africa
Nairobi City Park cemetery - Austin Pierey [sic] Harragin, died 2 Jun 1954 aged 27
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