FLEMING, Sir Valentine (1809-1884)

chief justice of Tasmania

was the son of Captain Valentine Fleming and his wife Catherine, daughter of John Hunter Gowan. He was born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England, in 1809 and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated with honours in 1834. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1838 and was appointed commissioner of insolvent debtors, Hobart, in 1841. He became solicitor-general in 1844, attorney-general in 1848, and chief justice of the supreme court of Tasmania in 1854. He retired on a pension of £1000 a year at the end of 1869 but was acting chief justice from 1872 to 1874, and from March to May 1874 administered the government. He died in England on 25 October 1884. He married (1) Elizabeth Oke, daughter of Charles Buckland, and (2) Fanny Maria, daughter of William Seccombe, who survived him. He was knighted in 1856.

The Times, 28 October 1884; P. Mennell, The Dictionary of Australasian Biography; J. Fenton, A History of Tasmania; Debrett's Peerage, etc., 1884.