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Name: WILLAN, Harold Curwen CMG, MC (Brig.), Sir
Birth Date: 29 Feb 1896 Scalthwaiterigg
Death Date: 11 Dec 1971 Southwark
First Date: 1937
Profession: Solicitor General; King's Proctor, Kenya in 1939, appointed 1937. Cadet FMS 1920. Offr. CV & Dist. Offr. 1923, Ag. Asst. Registrar, Supreme Court 1927, Offr. C. IV and Exmnr. In Law 1927, Ag. Deputy Public Prosecutor FMS 1930.
Area: Nairobi
Married: 1922 Marjorie Rigg b. 10 May 1895 Kendal, d. 13 July 1974 Epsom, Surrey
Children: John (1923)
Book Reference: Staff 39, Tignor, Colonial
War Service: Military service 1915-19 and 1941-45, Brigadier
School: Kendal School and Jesus College Oxford; barrister-at-law Inner Temple
General Information:
Acting District Judge 1932; Acting. Deputy Legal Adviser, FMS, 1934; Acting Attorney General, Kenya in 1937 and again in 1939.
Wikipedia Willan went to Malaya in 1920 as a cadet attached to the District Office, Batang Padang, becoming a passed cadet in Malay in 1923, after which he was appointed District Officer, Jelebu. Later he became Assistant District Officer, Kuala Kangsar; Director of Public Prosecutions, Federated Malay States; Acting District Registrar and First Magistrate, Malacca, and Deputy Legal Adviser Federated Malay States. He was appointed District Judge, Straits Settlements in 1932, and Deputy Legal Adviser, Federated Malay States in 1934.
In 1937, he was appointed Solicitor General of Kenya, and served as Chairman of the Labour Commission in 1939. In 1940, he was appointed Attorney-General of Zanzibar where he was awarded the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar. In 1941, he was Legal Adviser, Civil Affairs, East Africa Command, and also acted as Chief Political Officer. In 1942, he was appointed President of the High Court of Ethiopia.
In 1945, he returned to Malaya as Deputy Chief Civil Affairs Officer, Malay Peninsula, with rank of Brigadier and was mentioned twice in dispatches.He served as Chief Justice of the Malayan Union in 1946 and of the Federation of Malaya from 1948 to 1950. In 1952, he served as Chief Justice, Basutoland, the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland. From 1952 to 1956 he served as Chief Justice of the United Kingdom High Commission Territories in South Africa, and from 1962 to 1968 he was Commissioner, Foreign Compensation Commission (FCC) serving as Vice-Chairman from 1967 to 1968.