David Tompkins

Tompkins was born in Hamilton on 26 July 1929, the son of Arthur Lance Tompkins and Marjorie Rees Tompkins (née Manning). His maternal grandfather was Arthur Edwards Manning He was educated at Southwell School in Hamilton from 1939 to 1942, and King's College, Auckland from 1943 to 1946. He went on to study law at Auckland University College, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1952. In 1956, Tompkins married Erica Lya Felicity Faris, and the couple had three children, including Arthur Tompkins, who was appointed a district court judge in 1997. ==Career==

Tompkins was a partner in the Hamilton legal firm of Tompkins Wake from 1953 to 1971 and continued practising as a barrister until 1983. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1974 and served as a judge of the Courts Martial Appeal Court between 1982 and 1983. In 1983, he was appointed to the bench of the High Court, serving as a judge until 1997, although he continued to serve after that as an acting judge. Between 1989 and 1992, he was executive judge of the High Court in Auckland, from 1995 he was a judge of the Court of Appeal of Tonga, and from 1997 a judge of the Court of Appeal of Fiji. ==Honours and awards==

In 1977, Tompkins was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, and in 1990 he received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. In 1986, Tompkins was conferred with an honorary doctorate by the University of Waikato. ==Later life==

Tompkins' wife, Felicity, Lady Tompkins, died in 2019. Tompkins died on 1 July 2023, aged 93. ==References==