Randolph Isham Stow was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

-born Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n Supreme Court

Supreme Court of South Australia

The Supreme Court of South Australia is the superior court for the Australian State of South Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. The Supreme Court is the highest South Australian court in the Australian court...

 judge.

Stow was born in Framlingham

Framlingham

Framlingham is a market town and civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal District of Suffolk, England. Commonly referred to as "Fram" by the locals, it is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. It has a population of 3,114 at the 2001 census...

, Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, England, the eldest son of the Rev. Thomas Quinton Stow and his wife Elizabeth, née Eppes. The family migrated to Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

 in 1837; Randolph and his brothers Jefferson and Augustine were educated at home by their father and at a school run by D. Wylie. M.A.

Randolph Stow showed great ability as a boy and was articled (apprenticed by contract) to a firm of lawyers, Messrs. Bartley and Bakewell. Shortly after the completion of his articles Stow became a junior partner in the firm. In 1859 Stow started a business for himself. Later, Stow was a partner with Messrs. T. B. Bruce and F. Ayers.

Stow was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly

South Australian House of Assembly

The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...

 as member for West Torrens

Electoral district of West Torrens

West Torrens is an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia. Named after the City of West Torrens because of its location on the River Torrens, it is a 26.7 km² urban electorate on Adelaide's western suburbs...

 1861-2, for Victoria 1863-65, East Torrens 1866-68 and Light

Electoral district of Light

Light is an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia. It is named after Colonel William Light who was the first Surveyor-General of South Australia. The electorate was created in 1857, abolished in 1902 and reinstated in 1936...

 1873-75.
In October 1861 Stow became Attorney General

Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

 in the Waterhouse

George Marsden Waterhouse

George Marsden Waterhouse was a Premier of South Australia from 8 October 1861 until 3 July 1863 and the seventh Premier of New Zealand from 11 October 1872 to 3 March 1873.-Early life:...

 (ministry which held office until July 1863). Stow was Attorney General again in the Henry Ayers

Henry Ayers

Sir Henry Ayers GCMG was Premier of South Australia five times between 1863 and 1873, but is perhaps best remembered for having Uluru/Ayers Rock named for him.- Overview :...

 and Arthur Blyth

Arthur Blyth

Sir Arthur Blyth KCMG was premier of South Australia three times; 1864–1865, 1871–1872 and 1873-1875....

 ministries from July 1864 to March 1865 and then lost his seat. He was now one of the leaders of the South Australian bar, and became a Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

 in this year. By 1875 Stow was the unchallenged leader of the bar at Adelaide, and on 15 March 1875 was appointed judge of the Supreme Court

Supreme court

A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...

. Stow's health, however, had not been good for some time, and he had a heavy workload; he died age 49 of atrophy of the liver on 17 September 1878. He left a widow, four sons and two daughters.

As a member of parliament Stow was regarded as a first-rate debater and took a leading part as Attorney-General in putting through legislation of much value. As an advocate he possessed an accurate knowledge of law, but he made his greatest impression as a judge although he was on the bench for less than four years. At the time of his death there was a general feeling that South Australia had lost a great judge, and many years later Sir John Downer

John Downer

Sir John William Downer, KCMG was the Premier of South Australia from 16 June 1885 until 11 June 1887 and again from 1892 to 1893. He was the first of three Australian politicians from the Downer family dynasty.-Early life:...

who became a Q.C. in the year Stow died, said of him that he was

"one of the greatest judges Australia ever had. A commanding presence, a striking face, an exquisite voice, unusual swiftness in comprehension, with an immense combination of eloquence and power". (Quoted at the time of Downer's death in The South Australian Advertiser, 3 August 1915).