# Ransley Thacker

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{{Short description|British lawyer and judge (1891–1966)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific_prefix   = [The Honourable](/source/The_Honourable)
|name               = Ransley Samuel Thacker
|honorific_suffix   = [KC](/source/King's_Counsel)
|alt                = 
|caption            =

|order              = 15th
|office             = Attorney General of Fiji
|monarch            = [George V](/source/George_V)<br />[Edward VIII](/source/Edward_VIII)<br />[George VI](/source/George_VI)
|governor           = [Sir Arthur Fletcher](/source/Arthur_George_Murchison_Fletcher)<br />[Cecil Barton](/source/Cecil_Barton)<small>(Acting)</small><br />[Sir Arthur Richards](/source/Arthur_Richards%2C_1st_Baron_Milverton)

|term_start         = December 1933
|term_end           = 1938
|predecessor        = [Charles Gough Howell](/source/Charles_Gough_Howell)
|successor          = [Edward Enoch Jenkins](/source/Edward_Enoch_Jenkins)

|order1             = 
|office1            = [Chief Justice of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines](/source/Chief_Justice_of_St_Vincent)
|monarch1           = [George V](/source/George_V)
|governor1          = [Herbert Walter Peebles](/source/Herbert_Walter_Peebles)

|term_end1          = 1933
|predecessor1       = 
|successor1         =

|order2             = 
|office2            = [Justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya](/source/Supreme_Court_of_Kenya)
|monarch2           = [George VI](/source/George_VI)
|governor2          = [Sir Robert Brooke-Popham](/source/Robert_Brooke-Popham)<br />[Walter Harragin](/source/Walter_Harragin)<small>(Acting)</small><br />[Sir Henry Moore](/source/Henry_Monck-Mason_Moore)<small>(Acting)</small><br />[Gilbert McCall Rennie](/source/Gilbert_McCall_Rennie)<small>(Acting)</small><br />[Sir Philip Mitchell](/source/Philip_Euen_Mitchell)

|term_start2        = 1938
|term_end2          = 1950
|predecessor2       = 
|successor2         =

|order3             = 
|office3            = First Class Magistrate
|monarch3           = [Elizabeth II](/source/Elizabeth_II)
|governor3          = [Sir Evelyn Baring](/source/Evelyn_Baring%2C_1st_Baron_Howick_of_Glendale)

|term_start3        = 1952
|term_end3          = 1953
|predecessor3       = None (new office)
|successor3         = None (office abolished)

|order4             = 
|office4            = 
|monarch4           = 
|governor4          = 
|predecessor4       = 
|successor4         =

|order5             = 
|office5            = 
|monarch5           = 
|governor5          = 
|predecessor5       = 
|successor5         =

|birth_date         = 1891<ref>{{cite web|title=Thacker, Ransley Samuel (1891-1965) Colonial Judge|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F51382|website=The National Archives|accessdate=26 September 2015}}</ref>
|birth_place        = [Nottingham](/source/Nottingham), United Kingdom
|death_date         = 3 January 1966<ref>[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-331482465/view?partId=nla.obj-331584276#page/n154/mode/1up Mr. R.S. Thacker] ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', February 1966, p. 153.</ref>
|death_place        = [Chipunga](/source/Chipunga), [Rhodesia](/source/Rhodesia)<ref>"Mr. Ransley S. Thacker", ''East Africa and Rhodesia'', 6 January 1966.</ref>
|citizenship        = 
|party              = 
|other_party         =  <!--For additional political affiliations-->
|spouse             = Olive Frances Braithwaite<br /><small>m. 1915</small>
|children           = 1 daughter, 1 son
|occupation         = Lawyer, Jurist
}}

'''Ransley Samuel Thacker''' {{post-nominals|UK|QC}} (1891 – 3 January 1966) was a British lawyer and judge. Employed in the colonial service, he served as [Chief Justice of St Vincent](/source/Chief_Justice_of_St_Vincent) (1931–1933), [Attorney General of Fiji](/source/Attorney_General_of_Fiji) (1933-1938), and as a judge in [British Kenya](/source/British_Kenya). He is best known for the jailing of [Jomo Kenyatta](/source/Jomo_Kenyatta).

==Legal and political career==
In the early 1930s, Thacker served as [Chief Justice of St Vincent](/source/Chief_Justice_of_St_Vincent), and was serving in that role as of 7 July 1933.<ref>{{cite web|title=UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 forRansley Thacker|url=http://interactive.ancestry.com.au/1518/30807_A001019-00201?pid=12298653&backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.Ancestry.com.au%2f%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3findiv%3d1%26db%3dbt26%26gss%3dangs-d%26new%3d1%26rank%3d1%26msT%3d1%26gsfn%3dRansley%26gsfn_x%3d1%26gsln%3dThacker%26gsln_x%3d1%26mswpn__ftp%3dKenya%252c%2bFiji%26MSAV%3d1%26gskw_x%3d1%26_83004002_x%3d1%26cp%3d0%26catbucket%3drstp%26uidh%3det5%26pcat%3d40%26fh%3d1%26h%3d12298653%26recoff%3d%26ml_rpos%3d2&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true|website=Ancestry.com|accessdate=26 September 2015}}</ref>

Thacker took up the post of [Attorney General of Fiji](/source/Attorney_General_of_Fiji) at the end of 1933, passing through [Sydney](/source/Sydney) en route to [Suva](/source/Suva) on 21 December.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fremantle, Western Australia, Passenger Lists, 1897-1963 for Mr Ransley Samuel Thacker|url=http://interactive.ancestry.com.au/5378/32704_334603-00294?pid=724211&backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.Ancestry.com.au%2f%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3findiv%3d1%26db%3dauswestpassengerlists%26gss%3dangs-d%26new%3d1%26rank%3d1%26msT%3d1%26gsfn%3dRansley%26gsfn_x%3d1%26gsln%3dThacker%26gsln_x%3d1%26mswpn__ftp%3dKenya%252c%2bFiji%26MSAV%3d1%26gskw_x%3d1%26_83004002_x%3d1%26cp%3d0%26catbucket%3drstp%26uidh%3det5%26pcat%3d40%26fh%3d0%26h%3d724211%26recoff%3d7%2b9%26ml_rpos%3d1&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true|website=Ancestry.com|accessdate=26 September 2015}}</ref>

Thacker served as judge on the Supreme Court of [British Kenya](/source/British_Kenya) from 1938 to 1950.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Elkins|first1=Caroline|title=Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6uYtafSC1CsC&q=%22Ransley+Thacker%22&pg=PA40|year=2005|isbn=9781844135486|accessdate=26 September 2015}}</ref> He retired to [Nairobi](/source/Nairobi) on a £474 pension, which he supplemented by practicing law. He was called out of retirement on 17 November 1952, however, as a First Class [Magistrate](/source/Magistrate) to preside over the trial of the [Kapenguria Six](/source/Kapenguria_Six) — [Jomo Kenyatta](/source/Jomo_Kenyatta) and five others accused of organizing the [Mau Mau](/source/Mau_Mau_rebellion) movement.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Reed|first1=David E.|title=Institute of Current World Affairs|url=http://www.icwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/DER-4.pdf|website=Institute of Current World Affairs|accessdate=27 September 2015|date=30 August 1953}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=David|title=Histories of the Hanged: Britain's Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9-LhkJxuaXYC&q=%22Ransley+Thacker%22&pg=PT40|date=30 December 2011|isbn=9781780222882|accessdate=26 September 2015}}</ref> He was bribed for £20,000 by Governor [Evelyn Baring](/source/Evelyn_Baring%2C_1st_Baron_Howick_of_Glendale) from an emergency fund, as were the fabricated witnesses from the Attorney-General's office's funds.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Elkins |first=Caroline |title=Britain's Gulag : The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya |date=11 January 2005 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company, LLC |isbn=978-1-5299-4618-5 |pages=40 |language=en}}</ref> On 8 April 1953, Thacker sentenced them to seven years' [hard labour](/source/hard_labour). In his summing up, Thacker declared:

{{Cquote|You have successfully plunged many Africans back to a state which shows little humanity. You have persuaded them in secret to murder, burn and commit atrocities which will take many years to forget.<ref>{{cite news|title=1953: Seven years' hard labour for Kenyatta|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/8/newsid_2887000/2887641.stm|website=BBC Home|date=8 April 1953|access-date=26 September 2015}}</ref>}}

He added:
{{Cquote|You have let loose upon this land a flood of misery and unhappiness affecting the daily lives of the races in it, including your own people.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Meredith|first1=Martin|title=The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNZ6srograIC&q=%22Ransley+Thacker%22&pg=PT109|date=September 2011|isbn=9780857203892|accessdate=26 September 2015}}</ref>}}

Kenyatta remained imprisoned until 14 April 1959, and his civil rights were not fully restored until August 1961.

==Personal life==
Thacker was the son of Henry Thacker and Eliza Jackson.

In 1915, Thacker married Olive Frances Braithwaite in [London](/source/London). They had three children, Daphne Elinor (born 1917), Derek (born c.1919) and Derwent Allan (born 1921).<ref>{{cite web|title=Fremantle, Western Australia, Passenger Lists, 1897-1963 forMr Ransley Samuel Thacker|url=http://interactive.ancestry.com.au/5378/32704_334603-00294?pid=724211&backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.Ancestry.com.au%2f%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3findiv%3d1%26db%3dauswestpassengerlists%26gss%3dangs-d%26new%3d1%26rank%3d1%26msT%3d1%26gsfn%3dRansley%26gsfn_x%3d1%26gsln%3dThacker%26gsln_x%3d1%26mswpn__ftp%3dKenya%252c%2bFiji%26MSAV%3d1%26gskw_x%3d1%26_83004002_x%3d1%26cp%3d0%26catbucket%3drstp%26uidh%3det5%26pcat%3d40%26fh%3d0%26h%3d724211%26recoff%3d7%2b9%26ml_rpos%3d1&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true|website=Ancestry.com|accessdate=26 September 2015}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thacker, Ransley}}
Category:1891 births
Category:1966 deaths
Category:Attorneys general of the Colony of Fiji
Category:Attorneys-general of Fiji
Category:Members of the Legislative Council of Fiji
Category:Chief justices of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Category:British Kenya judges
Category:British Windward Islands judges
Category:People from Nottingham
Category:British expatriates in Fiji
Category:English King's Counsel
Category:20th-century English lawyers

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ransley Thacker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransley_Thacker) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransley_Thacker?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.