JENKINS, SIR LAWRENCE (1858-1928), Indian judge and reformer, was born at Cilbronau, Cardigan, on Dec. 22, 1858, and educated at Cheltenham and at University college, Oxford. He was called to the bar in 1883, and became well known as an equity lawyer. He married in 1892 Catherine Kennedy, author of Sport and Travel in Both Tibets (1909). In 1896 he was appointed judge in the high court of Calcutta. After three years he was promoted chief justice of Bombay, and was created K.C.I.E. in 1903. Sir Lawrence took a great interest in political and social problems in India, and sometimes aroused adverse criticism in his attempts to minimize the racial gulf between Europeans and Indians.
In 1908 he was made a member of the council of India and played an important part in the Morley-Minto plans for reform. Lord Minto soon urged his appointment as chief justice of Cal cutta, and Lord Morley reluctantly agreed to let him go. The
political unrest during the following period did not allow Sir Lawrence scope for the abilities which he had exercised in Bom bay, and he did not escape criticism on political grounds for his handling of certain cases. After the outbreak of the World War, however, he conducted the Prize Court at Calcutta with a skill admitted both by his colleagues and by the public. He retired from the chief justiceship in 1916, and was made a member of the judicial committee of the Privy Council. Here full use was made of his intimate knowledge of Indian law and practice. In 1924 he received a special appointment on the board to consider the position of the Irish Boundary Commission. He died on Oct.
2, 1928.