The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Dowling, His Honour James Sheen
Dowling, His Honour James Sheen, L.L.B., District Court Judge, New South Wales, is the eldest son of the late Sir James Dowling, sometime Chief Justice of New South Wales, by his first wife. Sir James Dowling's brother, Vincent George Dowling, was for many years editor of Bell's Life in London, and was the first to seize the miscreant Bellingham after he had assassinated Mr. Spencer Perceval, the Prime Minister of England, in the lobby of the House of Commons on May 11th, 1812. Judge Dowling was born in London on Dec. 2nd, 1819, and was taken to Australia by his father in 1828. Returning to London in 1836, he entered at King's College, and graduated LL.B. in 1841. In Nov. 1836 he became a student at the Middle Temple, and was called to the Bar in Nov. 1843. He was appointed Attorney-General at Port Curtis in 1849, and subsequently went to Sydney, where he was appointed a police magistrate in 1851, Crown Prosecutor in 1857, and in 1861 District Court Judge, a position he still holds. Judge Dowling married on June 20th, 1849, Katherine Marion, fourth daughter of the late James Laidley, of Sydney, sometime Deputy Commissary-General.