For the Episcopal clergyman and proponent of the YMCA, see William Chauncy Langdon.
William Henry Langdon
Office 1Associate Justice of the
California Supreme Court
Term start 1January 4, 1927
Term end 1August 10, 1939
Predecessor 1Jeremiah F. Sullivan
Successor 1Phil S. Gibson
Office 2Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal, First District, Division Two
Term start 2January 1, 1919
Term end 2January 3, 1927
Appointer 2William Stephens
Predecessor 2New seat
Successor 2Joseph Koford
Office 3Judge of the
Stanislaus County Superior Court
Term start 3August 9, 1915
Term end 3December 31, 1918
Appointer 3Hiram Johnson
Office 4President of the
California State Board of Education
Term start 4September 10, 1913
Term end 4August 8, 1915
Predecessor 4Hiram Johnson
Successor 4E. P. Clarke
Office 5Member of the
California State Board of Education
Appointer 5Hiram Johnson
Term start 5August 29, 1913
Term end 5September 17, 1917
Office 618th District Attorney of San Francisco
Term start 6January 8, 1906
Term end 6January 8, 1910
Predecessor 6Lewis Francis Byington
Successor 6Charles Fickert
Office 7San Francisco Superintendent of Schools
Term start 7January 8, 1903
Term end 7January 8, 1906
Predecessor 7Reginald H. Webster
Successor 7Alfred Roncovieri
Birth nameWilliam Henry Langdon
Birth dateSeptember 25, 1873
Birth placeAlameda County, California, U.S.
Death dateSeptember 25, 1939 (aged 66)
Death placeHillsborough, California, U.S.
PartyUnion Labor
Independence
Republican
Democratic
SpouseMyrtie Conneau McHenry (m. April 20, 1908)
Alma materCalifornia State Normal School (honorary B.A.)

William Henry Langdon (September 25, 1873 – August 10, 1939) was an American banker, lawyer and politician who served as Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court from 1927 to 1939. He previously served as District Attorney of San Francisco during the San Francisco graft trials.

Education and early career

Langdon was born near Dublin,[1] Alameda County, California, to Irish immigrants William and Annie Langdon.[2] Following the death of Langdon's father in 1875, his mother ran a cattle and wheat ranch.[2] Langdon was educated in the public schools and Hayward High School. He graduated from the California State Normal School to become a teacher, while also studying law in the offices of future Supreme Court Justice John E. Richards. In 1896, Langdon was admitted to the state Bar.[3] Langdon served as vice principal and principal at schools in San Leandro, Fresno, and San Francisco, eventually becoming the city's school superintendent in 1902.[4][5][6]

See also: San Francisco graft trials

In November 1905, city voters elected Langdon as district attorney of San Francisco, and in 1907 re-elected him to a second term.[7] A popular district attorney, Langdon was nominated by the Independence League as its choice for governor in the 1906 elections. Langdon's presence as a strong third party candidacy won over 14 percent of the vote, proving to be a spoiler vote in a tight race between Democrat Theodore A. Bell and Republican James Gillett. In 1907, one year after the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake, Langdon carried out the successful prosecutions both of Mayor Eugene Schmitz and political machine operator Abe Ruef for bribery and extortion, along with special assistants Francis J. Heney, Hiram Johnson and Matt Sullivan.[8]

After his tenure as district attorney, Langdon entered banking, serving with several banks around Modesto and managing the property his wife had inherited from her first husband.[6]

In 1913, Langdon was appointed to the State Board of Education by governor Hiram Johnson, his former colleague in the graft trials.[9] He was elected president[10] of the board,[11] serving in the latter position until 1915[12][13] and the former until 1917.[14]

In 1915, he reentered law when Governor Hiram Johnson appointed Langdon a judge of the Superior Court of Stanislaus County.[15] In December 1918, Governor William Stephens appointed Langdon presiding judge of the newly minted First District, Second Division, of the California Court of Appeal.[16] In 1920, Langdon was elected to a full term.[17]

In November 1926, Langdon won election to a 12-year term as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California, where he served the next nineteen years until his death in 1939.[18][6] Langdon filled the unexpired term of William P. Lawlor, who died in office in July 1926, and whose seat was filled for three months by the appointment of Jeremiah F. Sullivan. From 1930 until 1939, treatise author Bernard E. Witkin served as Langdon's law clerk.[19] In October 1939, the vacancy in Langdon's seat was filled by Governor Culbert Olson with the appointment of Phil S. Gibson.[20]

Among Langdon's notable opinions is his 1930 dissent in the denial of a commuted sentence of convicted double murderer Ernest A. Dias.[21] The majority of the court upheld the death penalty, but in dissent Langdon urged the governor to grant executive clemency on the basis of Dias' mental incompetence at the time of the killings.[21] Another dissent that year came when Warren K Billings, convicted of perpetrating the 1916 San francisco Preparedness Day bombing alongside Tom Mooney, appealed to the court for a pardon. Although the majority of the court denied his request, Langdon dissented on the grounds that Billings had no obligation to prove his innocence, but rather that the prosecution had an obligation to prove his guilt.[22]

Personal life

On April 20, 1908, he married Stanford-trained school teacher Myrtie Conneau McHenry (December 2, 1878 – August 18, 1959), a wealthy widow from Modesto, California.[7][23] They had one son: Lawton William Langdon (April 15, 1913 – September 23, 1960).[7] His wife, Myrtie, also had two children from her first marriage: Lois Ann ("Annie") Langdon (Moran) (January 28, 1910 – May 11, 1973) and Merl McHenry (December 3, 1903 – January 3, 1994).[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Judge Langdon Now Candidate Belongs to Us". Hayward Semi-Weekly Review. November 2, 1926. p. 1. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  2. ^ "Mrs. Annie Langdon, Summoned by Death". San Francisco Call. Vol. 111, no. 117. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 4 April 1912. p. 9. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  3. ^ "Alumni of San Jose Normal to Meet Here". San Francisco Call. Vol. 113, no. 30. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 30 December 1912. p. 4. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  4. ^ "Contests the Election of William Langdon". San Francisco Call. Vol. 93, no. 2. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 2 December 1902. p. 9. Retrieved July 22, 2017. election of William H.Langdon to. the office of Superintendent of Schools
  5. ^ "Election Contest Dismissed". Los Angeles Herald. No. 100. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 6 January 1903. p. 3. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  6. ^ Johnson, J. Edward (1966). "William H. Langdon", History of the Supreme Court Justices of California, 1900–1950 Archived January 25, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. San Francisco, CA: Bancroft-Whitney. pp. 131–36. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  7. ^ Harper, Franklin (1913). Who's who on the Pacific Coast: A Biographical Compilation of Notable Living Contemporaries West of the Rocky Mountains. Harper Publishing. p. 333. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  8. ^ Campbell, Ballard C. (2000). The Human Tradition in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 172. ISBN 0842027351. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  9. ^ "Langdon Likely to Head State Education Board". San Francisco Call. No. 114. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 31 August 1913. p. 20. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  10. ^ Jordan, Frank C. (1915). California Blue Book 1913-1915. Sacramento: California State Printing Office. p. 35. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  11. ^ "New state school board organizes". Fresno Morning Republican. 11 September 1913. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  12. ^ ""True facts" about Board of Education". Santa Cruz Surf. 17 September 1915. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  13. ^ "Judge William H. Langdon dons the juducial ermine". Oakdale Leader. 12 August 1915. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  14. ^ Jordan, Frank C. (1924). California Blue Book 1924. Sacramento: California State Printing Office. p. 414. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  15. ^ "Judge Langdon Tries First Criminal Case". Press Democrat. No. 189. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 12 August 1915. p. 1. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  16. ^ "Needham Successor to Judge Langdon". Madera Weekly Tribune. No. 41. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 19 December 1918. p. 4. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  17. ^ "Official Vote in Primary". Sacramento Union. No. 31. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 1 October 1920. p. 12. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  18. ^ "State Returns". Healdsburg Tribune. No. 4. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 4 November 1926. p. 2. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  19. ^ McCarthy, Nancy (February 1996). "The passing of a legal giant". California Bar Journal. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  20. ^ "Gibson Chosen Langdon Place". Madera Tribune. No. 91. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 16 August 1939. p. 1. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  21. ^ "Judge Dissents in Death Verdict". Healdsburg Tribune. No. 299. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 21 October 1930. p. 2. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  22. ^ Tom Mooney Betrayed by Labor Leaders. San Francisco: Tom Mooney Molders Defense Committee. May 1931. p. 2. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  23. ^ Marr, Peter (2002). Dust On My Shoulders. Xlibris Corporation. p. 101. ISBN 1462844677.

Sources