David Saul Marshall (12 March 1908 – 12 December 1995) was a politician and lawyer from Singapore who served as Singapore's first Chief Minister from 1955 to 1956.
Born into an Orthodox Jewish family descended from Indian Baghdadi Jews in Singapore, David Marshall was educated at Saint Joseph's Institution, Saint Andrew's School and then Raffles Institution. He became interested in politics and the independence movement at an early age. After gra...
More
David Saul Marshall (12 March 1908 – 12 December 1995) was a politician and lawyer from Singapore who served as Singapore's first Chief Minister from 1955 to 1956.
Born into an Orthodox Jewish family descended from Indian Baghdadi Jews in Singapore, David Marshall was educated at Saint Joseph's Institution, Saint Andrew's School and then Raffles Institution. He became interested in politics and the independence movement at an early age. After graduating from the University of London, he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1937. He later became the most successful criminal lawyer in Singapore, with a reputation "Marshall never loses". Known for his sharp eloquence and imposing stances, he claimed that he had secured 99 acquittals out of 100 cases he defended for murder during Singapore's period of using trial by jury. When Singapore's leader (and Marshall's political opponent) Lee Kuan Yew abolished the jury system in 1969, he quoted Marshall's reputation to illustrate its ...
Less
