John Erskine Read, Q.C., D.C.L., LL.D., was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on July 5, 1888, and died on December 3, 1973, in the words of his friend Max Wershof “full of mental vigour to the last.” After graduating in Dalhousie Law School in 1909, he completed a year’s post-graduate study in Columbia University, New York. As a Rhodes scholar he then went to University College, Oxford, where he took a “double first” in winning his B.A. and B.C.L. In 1913 he was called to the Nova Scotia bar, joining the firm of Harris, Henry, Rogers and Harris. After distinguished service with the Canadian Field Artillery in World War I, in which he was wounded and invalided out with the acting rank of Major, he returned to that firm as a partner in 1918. In 1920 he joined the Faculty of Law of Dalhousie University, and was Dean between 1924 and 1929. In 1929 he was appointed Legal Adviser of the Department of External Affairs and held that position until he was elected a member of the International Court of Justice on February 6, 1946.
