William Horwood (judge)

{{Short description|Newfoundland politician}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}

File:Newfoundland at the beginning of the 20th century - a treatise of history and development (1902) (14750938526).jpg

Sir William Henry Horwood {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG}} (November 5, 1862 – April 7, 1945) was a politician and the Chief Justice of Newfoundland and Labrador from 1902 to 1944.{{cite book | title=White Tie and Decorations: Sir John and Lady Hope Simpson in Newfoundland, 1934-1936 | publisher=University of Toronto Press | author=Simpson, Sir John Hope | year=1997 | pages=31 | isbn=9780802080851}} He represented Trinity from 1894 to 1897 and from 1900 to 1902 and Harbour Grace from 1897 to 1900 in the Newfoundland House of Assembly.

Born in St. John's, Horwood was educated at Bishop Feild College and went on to study law. He was called to the Newfoundland bar in 1885. In 1895, he was named Queen's Counsel. He was first elected to the Newfoundland assembly in a by-election held in 1894. Horwood was a member of the Executive Council from 1894 to 1897 and from 1900 to 1902. He was Colonial Secretary from 1894 to 1895 and Minister of Justice and Attorney General from 1900 to 1902. In 1895, he was a Newfoundland delegate to a conference in Ottawa to discuss confederation with Canada. Horwood resigned from cabinet and the assembly upon being named Chief Justice in July 1902.{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/cns_enl/id/1430 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador |title=Horwood, William Henry |page=1039}}{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Judicial Appointments in Newfoundland |date=26 July 1902 |page=7 |issue=36830}}

On December 19, 1904, Horwood was knighted as a Knight Bachelor.{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Wm. A. |title=The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time to the Present Day of the Knights of All the Orders of Chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of the Knights Bachelors |date=1971 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Company |location=Baltimore |volume=2|page=420|oclc= 247620448}}

He was appointed president of the Newfoundland branch of St. John Ambulance following its initiation in April 1910.{{cite book | title=The Maple Leaf and the White Cross: A History of St. John Ambulance and the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Canada | publisher=Dundurn | author=McCreery, Christopher | year=2008 | pages=64 | isbn=9781459712263}}

In 1908, Horwood married Julia Hutchinson. He was named a Knight Commander in the Order of St Michael and St George in 1944.{{cite web |url=http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/nfldhistory/Newfoundland%20biographies%20E-J.htm |title=Newfoundland Biography |publisher=Marionopolis College}} He died in St. John's at the age of 82.{{cite web |url=http://www.lewisday.ca/ldlf_files/LivesInLaw/LivesInTheLaw2.pdf |title=Lives in the Law: Informal Legal and Social Sketches of the Chief Justices of Newfoundland, 1847 to 1996 |work=Newfoundland Quarterly |last=Day |first=Daniel C}}