Robert Megaw

Who was Robert Megaw?

Robert Dick Megaw was a barrister and a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland.

He was educated at Ballymoney Intermediate School, the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Queen's College, Belfast. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1893 and was Professor of Common Law at King's Inns from 1912 to 1914. He was appointed King's Counsel in 1921.

In 1921, he was elected to the Parliament of Northern Ireland as one of seven members for County Antrim, but was defeated in the general election of 1925. Megaw served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs from 1921 to 1925.

Following the loss of his seat in Parliament, he was appointed by the Minister of Home Affairs as a commissioner from 1925-26 to inquire into the administration of the Housing Acts by Belfast Corporation. He was Judicial Commissioner of the Land Purchase Commission of Northern Ireland from 1927 to 1937 and Chancery Judge of the High Court of Northern Ireland from 1932 to 1943. He was also a member of the Senate of Queen’s University, Belfast. He died on 2 May 1947.

Megaw was the father of Helen Megaw a noted crystallographer.