There used to be only three
Judges, First or Chief, Second, and Third, and I recollect some time
after my arrival in Calcutta one of the first incumbents of the office
of the Chief Judge was the late Mr. J.T. Woodroffe, Advocate-General
of Bengal, and father of Sir J.G. Woodroffe, Judge of the High Court.
He would, however, only accept the appointment temporarily, as he
considered his future prospects at the Bar too good to jeopardise by
being absent beyond a certain time. I was very intimate with him at
that period; in fact, we lived in the same boarding house for quite a
long time in Middleton Row, now run by Mrs. Ashworth, and it is rather
a singular coincidence that when this lady was a little girl her
mother, Mrs. Shallow, presided over this very house. The present court
was built on the site of the old post office and the residence of the
Calcutta Postmaster, a Mr. Dove--a large, fat man, but one of the
best. As Calcutta grew and litigation increased the number of Judges
was also gradually increased until there are now, I believe, six and a
Registrar to do the work that three, formerly, were able to cope with.
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