Leonard Stone

Who was Leonard Stone?

Sir John Leonard Stone, OBE, KC was the last British Chief Justice of the High Court of Bombay, serving from September 30, 1943 until 1948.

Educated at Malvern College, he served in the First World War and in the Greco-Turkish War of 1921 - 1922. Called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1923, he joined the Lincoln's Inn Bar in 1931, becoming a bencher of Gray's Inn in 1942 and its treasurer in 1956. He served in the British Home Guard during the Second World War, until 1943, when he was appointed Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. He was knighted in 1943, and was appointed an OBE the same year.

He subsequently served as Vice - Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster until 1963.

He died in 1978, aged 81.