John da Cunha

Who was John da Cunha?

John Wilfrid da Cunha was a British barrister and circuit judge. He was a member of the British delegation to the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal.

Born in Manchester, da Cunha's father, Frank da Cunha, was a GP who came to Manchester from Goa to study and never left. John da Cunha was educated at Stonyhurst and read law at St John's College, Cambridge. During the Second World War, he was commissioned into the 23rd Hussars, commanding a tank. He landed at Sword Beach four days after D-Day, but was seriously wounded by shrapnel in an attack on Caen a few weeks later.

While recuperating, he was seconded by the Judge Advocate General's department and sent, at age 23, as a junior counsel to the British headquarters at Bad Oeynhausen to assist Group Captain Tony Somerhough in preparing for the war crimes trials. He recalled being physically sick after opening his first file. He persevered, and interviewed survivors and witnesses from German concentration camps. He was closely involved with the Ravensbrück Trials.