William Hamersley

William Hamersley (September 9, 1838 – September 17, 1920) was a prosecutor, state legislator, and justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court from 1894 to 1908.

Early life, education, and career Born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of William James Hamersley, a newspaper editor and twice mayor of Hartford, and Laura Sophia Cooke, daughter of Oliver Dudley Cooke, a Congregational clergyman and publisher, and lectured on constitutional law there from 1875 to 1900, receiving an honorary LL.D. in 1893.

After reaching the constitutional age limit for judicial service, Hamersley served as a referee and on the Connecticut State Library Committee.

Personal life and death Hamersley married twice, first to Cynthia Williams of Painesville, Ohio, on October 19, 1870, and second to Jane Allen of Old Saybrook, Connecticut, on October 25, 1882. He had two children by his second marriage, these being Janet, who died in 1910, and William James Hamersley, who died in 1918 during the influenza pandemic while engaged in Red Cross service at Camp Devens. Hamersley was survived by his second wife and a granddaughter.

Hamersley died at his home in Hartford at the age of 82.