Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 16 May 1919, page 30


DEATH OF MR. SEPTIMUS BURT, K.C.

It is with deep regret that we have to chronicle the death of Mr. Septimus Burt, K.C., senior partner of the well-known legal firm of Stone and Burt, of this city. Mr. Burt, who died at his residence yesterday morning, after a protracted illness, was one of Western Australia's best known and most distinguished citizens. For very many years he was the acknowledged leader of the Bar in this State. Mr. Burt was the seventh son of Sir Archibald Burt, for- merly Chief Justice of Western Australia. He was born at St. Kitts, in the West In-dies, on October 25, 1847, and was there-fore in his 72nd year. He was educated at Melksham in Wiltshire (England) and at

Bishop's School, Perth. He was called to the Bar is 1870, and became a partner in the firm of Stone and Burt, of which Sir

Edward Stone, the late Chief Justice, was then the senior partner. Mr. Burt was nominated a member of the old Legisla-

tive Council in 1874, 16 yeas before the

grant to Western Australia of responsible Government, but shortly afterwards resign-ed to become an elected member of the same Chamber. In the first Ministry under Responsible Government in 1890 he became a Ministerial colleague of the late Lord then Sir John) Forrest, holding the portfolio of Attorney-General. Prior to this be had served in 1886 as mem-ber of the Western Australian Commission for the Indian and Colonial Exhibition and was a member of the first Colonial Con-ference in London on the occasion of Queen

Victoria's jubilee. In July, 1872, Mr. Burt married Julia, daughter of Mr. G. E. C. Hare, formerly of Kircullen, County Galway (Ireland). In the Legislative Assembly Mr. Burt sat for the Ashburton district, which he resigned, in 1900. His outstanding gifts as a lawyer, and his probity and high char-acter generally, marked him out in public estimation for judicial distinction, and it is an open secret that more than once a judge-ship, and even the Chief Justiceship, was pressed on his acceptance. Mr. Burt, how-ever, declined those high calls. He was not fond of public office of any kind, and preferred to serve his country in his pri-vate capacity. Perth has not had a more generous citizen. His good works never proclaimed from the housetops, and often done by stealth, were legion, and by his death Western Australia is distinctly the

poorer.