The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Topp, Samuel St. John
Topp, Samuel St. John, B.A., LL.M., is the youngest son of Samuel Topp, late of Melbourne, and was born at Huddersfield, in Yorkshire, on June 13th, 1850. He received his education at King Edward VI.'s Grammar School, Birmingham, and at the Church of England Grammar School, Melbourne (where he arrived in 1861). He subsequently matriculated at the Melbourne University, where he proceeded to the degrees of LL.M. and B.A. In the Law Course he carried off the third year Law Exhibition and the Law Scholarship in his fourth year, taking first-class honours on each occasion. He wound up his university career by carrying off the Shakespeare Scholarship, the great literary prize of the university. He was admitted to the Victorian Bar on Sept. 13th, 1877, and acted as law reporter on the Victorian Law Reports for several years. He also contributed some articles on literary subjects to the Melbourne Review in the earlier years of its existence. He has practised his profession ever since his admission to the Bar, and has occupied for some years past a leading position as an advocate in the Equity, Insolvency, and Mining Courts of Victoria. Mr. Topp is a member of the Bar Committee of Victoria and also a member of the Board of Examiners for Barristers of the Supreme Court.