James Marshall

Sir James Marshall (1829–1889) was a Scottish Anglican clergyman who converted to Roman Catholicism and became Chief Justice of the Gold Coast, now Ghana. He played a significant role in enhancing the growth of the Roman Catholic Church there and also in Nigeria.

Early life The son of a Presbyterian minister, James Marshall, and his wife Catherine Mary Richmond, daughter of Legh Richmond, he was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 19 December 1829. He lost his right arm as the result of an accident at the age of 16.

Legal practice and judicial service Marshall studied law and was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1868. In 1879 he asked the Office of the Propagation of Faith in Rome to provide missionaries. This led to the Society of African Missions transferring the pioneer French priests Auguste Moreau and Eugene Murat, both French nationals, from the Island of St. Helene station (South Africa Mission), to establish the Catholic Mission in the Gold Coast at Elmina and was buried in the churchyard cemetery at St Mary Magdalen’s Roman Catholic Church Mortlake. His wife Alice died in 1926 and is also buried in the churchyard. There is a plaque inside the church in their memory. It was unveiled on 11 August 1989, 100 years after his death.

The Knights and Ladies of Marshall, a lay association of Ghanaian Catholics, visit the church in Mortlake annually to celebrate a Mass in his memory.