Old Hong Kong-5 — Page 255

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COURTS 21 Continuation.

admitted to practise as a Proctor, Attorney and Solicitor in the Supreme Court of Hongkong on November 2, 1846) and was himself admitted to similarly practise on January 22, 1869.

Mr. Francis used to say that every morning (or shall I say on most mornings?) at about 11 a.m. Mr. Gaskell used to vanish for about half an hour for the purpose of paying a visit to the Old Hongkong Club, which was situated hard by, and that frequently before his departure, he would strictly enjoin upon Mr. Francis the necessity for the latter to refrain from leaving the office, lest thereby business might be lost - adding, "If you catch 'em and I'll skin 'em!"

In those days, according to the later Mr. Henry Lardner Dennys, the four leading solicitors (taking the order according to the respective dates of their local admission to practise) were Gaskell, Hazeland, Sharp, and Caldwell. Of these, Francis Innes Hazeland (admitted to practise on February 17, 1858) was Crown Solicitor, Edmund Sharp (admitted to practise on June 23, 1863) was the progenitor of the well-known firm of Johnson, Stokes and Master (formerly Sharp, Toller and Johnson and subsequently Sharp, Johnson and Stokes), while Henry Charles Caldwell (admitted to practise on November 30, 1865) after being articled to Messrs. Cooper-Turner and Hazeland, joined Mr. Roger Carmichael Robert Owen who had succeeded to the practice of Dr. William Thomas Bridges (admitted to practise on April 15, 1851) - the firm eventually being known as Caldwell and Brereton, and later Brereton, Wotton and Deacon (now Deacons), of whom Mr. Brereton was admitted to practise on February 8, 1870, Mr. Wotton on November 8, 1871, and Mr. Victor Hobart Deacon on July 12, 1880.

While Mr. Francis was still practising as a solicitor, he was joined by the late Mr. Matthew John Denman Stephens (admitted in England on November 25, 1863, and locally on January 31, 1873), who was formerly with Messrs. Rooks, Kenrick and Hartson of King Street, Cheapside, London.

Mr. Francis' name as an attorney was taken off the roll at his own request on December 29, 1873, and he was subsequently called to the Bar as a member of Gray's Inn, London, being admitted to practise at the Bar of the Supreme Court of Hongkong on March 16, 1877, at which date the leader of the Hongkong Bar (that is, apart from the Attorney-General who, by reason of his office, takes precedence of all members of the Bar) was Mr. Thomas Child Hayllar, who had been called by the Inner Temple, London, on June 6, 1861, and admitted to practise in Hongkong on January 29, 1868. Upon Mr. Hayllar's retirement, somewhere about the year 1883, Mr. Francis became the leader of the Hongkong Bar - a position which he maintained until his death in Japan in or about August 1901, when he was succeeded in his leadership by the late Mr. Ernest Hamilton Sharp, K.C. (who had been called by the Inner Temple on April 1894), who on his death in or about February 1922, was succeeded as leader by Mr. Eldon Potter, K.C.

Mr. Francis was, as various articles on "Old Hongkong" have shown, a strong character. He was a sound lawyer, though not so erudite as the late Mr. Sharp. He was an able cross-examiner and, as is the case with most Irishmen, of very ready speech and wit. A favourite expression of his when engaged in cross-examination was "Do not prevaricate or beat about the bush, but answer me truly, yes or no." Another expression in which he, on occasion, indulged in answer to the Court as to whether his arguments were addressed to, say, head (a) or head (b) was "Neither the one, nor the other, my Lord."

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