Sidney Abrahams

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Sir Sidney Abrahams

| office = 26th Chief Justice of Ceylon

| honorific-suffix = QC

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| image = File:Sir_Sidney_Abrahams.jpg

| alt =

| smallimage =

| caption = Sir Sidney Abrahams

| appointer = Reginald Edward Stubbs

| nominator =

| predecessor = Philip James Macdonell

| successor = John Curtois Howard
Francis Soertsz
as acting

| signature =

| signature_alt =

| party =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1885|02|1|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Birmingham, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1957|05|14|1885|02|1|df=yes}}

| death_place = London, England

| otherparty =

| partner =

| alma_mater = Cambridge University

| term_start = 3 July 1936

| term_end = 1939

| honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable

| module = {{infobox sportsperson

| embed = yes

| name =

| sport = Athletics

| event = long jump

| club = University of Cambridge AC
Achilles Club

}}

Sir Sidney Solomon Abrahams {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC|QC}} (11 February 1885 – 14 May 1957), nicknamed Solly, was a British barrister, judge, and Olympic athlete. He served as Chief Justice of Ceylon and as a member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. He was the older brother of famed Olympian Harold Abrahams.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/68825 |title=Sidney Abrahams |work=Olympedia |access-date=28 April 2021}}

Early life

Born in Birmingham, England, Abrahams was educated at Bedford Modern School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge.{{Cite web|url-access=subscription|url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-233877|title=Abrahams, Rt Hon. Sir Sidney Solomon, (11 February 1885 – 14 May 1957), Member of Judicial Cttee of Privy Council since 1941; Senior Legal Assistant, Commonwealth Relations Office and Colonial Office|website=WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO|year=2007|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U233877|isbn=978-0-19-954089-1}}

He competed in athletics for Cambridge University from 1904 to 1906. At the unofficial Olympiad, the 1906 'Intercalated Games' held in Athens, he finished fifth in the long jump with 6.21 metres. Abrahams finished second behind Tim Ahearne in the long jump event at the 1909 AAA Championships.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002148/19090705/149/0008 |title=Athletics |work=Leicester Daily Post |date=5 July 1909 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=12 September 2024}}{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000206/19090705/005/0002 |title=AAA Championships |work=Manchester Courier |date=5 July 1909 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=24 October 2024}}

At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, he finished in twelfth place in the same event at 6.72 metres. At the 1913 AAA Championships in London, he won the long jump with 6.86 metres.{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/bc1.htm |title=British Athletics Championships 1876-1914 |website=GBR Athletics |access-date=24 October 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=24 October 2024}}

=Career=

He studied law at the Middle Temple and was called to the bar in 1909.

He joined the Colonial Service and was Advocate General in Baghdad in 1920 and President of the Civil Courts in Basra in 1921. After serving as Attorney General of Zanzibar (1922), Uganda (1925) and Gold Coast (1928), Abrahams was appointed Chief Justice of Uganda in 1933 and Chief Justice of Tanganyika in 1934.{{cite book|title= The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History|first= William|last = Rubinstein|page=11}}

He then served as Chief Justice of Ceylon from 1936 to 1939 and was knighted in 1936. The most celebrated case he presided over was that of the Australian Mark Anthony Bracegirdle, whom the Governor of British Ceylon Sir Reginald Stubbs was attempting to have deported; the court ruled against the Governor. He was the founder-president of the Medico-Legal Society of Ceylon. He was succeeded by John Curtois Howard, after the acting Francis Soertsz.{{cite web|title=Overview|url=http://www.jsc.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=60&lang=en|publisher=Judicial Service Commission Secretariat|accessdate=19 October 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019091817/http://www.jsc.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=60&lang=en|archivedate=19 October 2013}} He retired from the bench in 1939.

In 1941, he was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council and served on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Sidney Abrahams chaired a Committee on the Administration of Justice in Nigeria. He was later Senior Legal Assistant to the Commonwealth Relations Office. He played a major role in the suspension of the People's Progressive Party Government of Cheddi Jagan in British Guiana (Guyana) in 1953.

He was elected president of the London Athletic Club.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} Abrahams was the first Jew to hold the post.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

Abrahams was married to Ruth Bowman and they had two children, Valerie and Anthony Abrahams.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20060111171003/http://www.revolutionary-history.co.uk/otherdox/Whatnext/Bracegir.html T. Perera, 'The Bracegirdle Saga: 60 Years After', What Next, No 5 1997]
[http://www.jewsinsports.org/olympics.asp?sport=olympics&ID=318 Abrahams, Sidney 'Solly', Jews in Sport Online]
[http://www.guyana.org/features/guyanastory/chapter133.html American Involvement in Guyana in 1953, History of Guyana]