Humphrey Slade

{{short description|1st Speaker of the National Assemnly of Kenya}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Honourable

| name = Humphrey Slade

| honorific-suffix = EBS, KBE

| image =

| alt =

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| office1 = Speaker of the Kenyan National Assembly

| term_start1 = 1967

| term_end1 = 1970

| predecessor1 = Position established

| successor1 = Fred Mbiti Gideon Mati

| office2 = Speaker of the Kenyan House of Representatives

| term_start2 = 1963

| term_end2 = 1967

| predecessor2 = Position established

| successor2 = Position abolished

| office3 = Speaker of the Kenyan Legislative Council

| term_start3 = 1960

| term_end3 = 1963

| predecessor3 = Ferdinand Cavendish-Bentinck

| successor3 = Position abolished

| birth_date = 4 May 1905

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = 13 August 1983 (aged 78)

| death_place = Nairobi, Kenya

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| party = Independent

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| alma_mater = Eton College
Magdalen College, Oxford

| profession =

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Humphrey Slade, EBS, KBE (4 May 1905 – 13 August 1983) was a British-born Kenyan lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Legislative Council and later the National Assembly between 1952 and 1970.The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, Volume 6, Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, Incorporated, 1983, p.2004 He was the inaugural Speaker of the National Assembly, from 1967 to 1970.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i8mcDwAAQBAJ|title=Legislative Development in Africa: Politics and Postcolonial Legacies|first=Ken Ochieng'|last=Opalo|date=June 20, 2019|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781108579964|via=Google Books}}

Biography

Slade was born in Kensington, London to George Slade, a solicitor, and his wife Edith Beale. He was a King's Scholar at Eton College and later read jurisprudence at Magdalen College, Oxford.The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, Volume 6, Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, Incorporated, 1983, p.2004 He completed his articles with Gibson and Weldon and qualified as a solicitor in 1930.The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, Volume 6, Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, Incorporated, 1983, p.2004

He migrated to Kenya in October 1930 and practised as a lawyer with Hamilton Harrison and Mathews in Nairobi.Hilary Sunman, A Very Different Land: Memories of Empire from the Farmlands of Kenya, I.B.Tauris, 21 Aug 2014 When the Second World War broke out in 1939, he was made Deputy Judge Advocate of the East African Forces, remaining in the position until 1941.The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, Volume 6, Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, Incorporated, 1983, p.2004 In 1945, whilst still in Kenya, he came of the roll of solicitors in England and Wales in order to gain a call to the bar at Lincoln's Inn.The London Gazette, 27 February 1945, 1153

In 1952, he was elected to the Legislative Council from the Aberdares constituency.The Weekly Review, Stellascope Limited, 1983, p.150 He served as speaker of the Legislative Council from 1960 until Kenyan independence in 1963. He then served as speaker of the newly established House of Representatives between 1963 and 1967, and that latter year he was unanimously elected as the inaugural Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya."Humphrey Slade." The Times (London, England), Thursday, Aug 18, 1983; pg. 10; Issue 61614. Retrieved 22 February 2015.Hilary Sunman, A Very Different Land: Memories of Empire from the Farmlands of Kenya, I.B.Tauris, 21 Aug 2014 He retired from public life in 1970 and died in Nairobi in 1983.