Sir Valentine Fleming was a Chief Justice of Tasmania

Chief Justice of Tasmania

The Chief Justice of Tasmania is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania and the highest ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of Tasmania. The Chief Justice is both the judicial head of the Supreme Court as well as the administrative head...

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Fleming was born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch

Ashby-de-la-Zouch

Ashby-de-la-Zouch, — Zouch being pronounced "Zoosh" — often shortened to Ashby, is a small market town and civil parish in North West Leicestershire, England, within the National Forest. It is twinned with Pithiviers in north-central France....

, Leicestershire, England, the second son of Captain Valentine Fleming of Tuam

Tuam

Tuam is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The name is pronounced choo-um . It is situated west of the midlands of Ireland, and north of Galway city.-History:...

, County Galway

County Galway

County Galway is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the city of Galway. Galway County Council is the local authority for the county. There are several strongly Irish-speaking areas in the west of the county...

 and his wife Catherine, a daughter of John Hunter Gowan II

John Hunter Gowan II

John Hunter Gowan born c. 1727, died c. 28 May, 1824,commonly known simply as 'Hunter Gowan' was an Irish loyalist and leader of a yeomanry corps known as the 'Black Mob', which was accused of committing atrocities against Catholic civilians before and after the outbreak of the 1798 rising in...

. Fleming was educated at Bangor and Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

, graduating with honours in 1834. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn

Gray's Inn

The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

 on 21 January 1838.

In 1841 Fleming was appointed commissioner of insolvent debtors, Hobart

Hobart

Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...

, Tasmania. He became solicitor-general in 1844, attorney-general in 1848, an official member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council

Tasmanian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the House of Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart...

 in 1851 and chief justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania

Supreme Court of Tasmania

The Supreme Court of Tasmania is the highest State court in the Australian State of Tasmania. In the Australian court hierarchy, the Supreme Court of Tasmania is in the middle level, and is able to both receive appeals from lower courts, and able to be appealed from.The ordinary sittings of the...

in 1854. He was knighted in 1856 and retired on a pension of £1000 a year at the end of 1869 but was acting chief justice from 1872 to 1874. From March to May 1874 administered the government. He died near Reigate, England on 25 October 1884. He married twice: once to Elizabeth Oke, daughter of Charles Buckland, and second to Fanny Maria, daughter of William Seccombe, who survived him.