Kin from Australia attend memorial programme for slain judge in Tiruchi

Relatives from Australia honor slain judge Herbert Olive Denman Harding at poignant 109th death anniversary ceremony in India.

Relatives of Justice Herbert Olive Denman Harding, the District and Sessions judge of erstwhile Trichinopoly, flew from Australia to commemorate his 109th death anniversary along with members of the legal fraternity at a poignant ceremony on the court premises on Saturday.

Kim Bainbridge-Harding, 70, and his son Dylan Harding, 33 — the great grandson and great-great grandson respectively of the slain judge — participated in the annual memorial programme conducted in the presence of Principal District Judge M. Christopher and senior lawyers.

Mr. Bainbridge-Harding, a lawyer based in Swan Hill, Australia, said the visit helped him and his son piece together the storied life of their ancestor. “I came to know of our family connection (through my father’s side), to Judge Harding at least 10 years ago. But we became aware of his tragic death very recently, through a 2023 video posted by Karate N. Muthukumar on social media,” he told The Hindu.

“It was very surreal. I got in touch with him over Instagram. We decided to travel to India for the memorial programme this year,” Mr. Dylan Harding, a sales manager based out of Melbourne, said.

Mr. Muthukumar, an advocate, said he was pleasantly surprised to see Mr. Harding’s message. “I like taking videos on historical monuments for my social media handles, and had done a short one on the Harding memorial plaque with some background about his tenure in Tiruchi [1913-1916]. Usually, most of the comments are from my friends or relatives; this was the first time that someone outside my social circle responded to my work,” he added.

According to archival documents, District Judge Harding was stabbed to death at the portico of the north side of the court in the afternoon of February 22, 1916, by one Syed Ismail, over an unresolved legal matter pertaining to his marriage. This happened minutes before Harding boarded his horse carriage.

He was buried at Somerset, England, and a memorial plaque was installed at the court complex in Tiruchi.