Ba U

Former President of Burma

ဘဦး

2nd President of BurmaIn office
16 March 1952 – 13 March 1957Prime MinisterU Nu
Ba SwePreceded bySao Shwe ThaikSucceeded byWin Maung Personal detailsBorn(1887-05-26)26 May 1887
Pathein, Lower Burma, British IndiaDied9 November 1963(1963-11-09) (aged 76)
Yangon, Burma (Myanmar)NationalityBurmaPolitical partyAFPFLSpouse(s)Daw Nyein (died 1922)
Daw Aye (died 1941)EducationMA (Cantab), LLDAlma materUniversity of CambridgeOccupation

Politician
lawyer

AwardsThiri Thudhamma Thingaha

Sir Ba U (Burmese: ဘဦး, pronounced [ba̰ ʔú]; 26 May 1887 – 9 November 1963), was a Burmese politician and lawyer. He served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Burma from 1948 to 1952,^[1] and the second president of Burma from 16 March 1952 to 13 March 1957.

Born

He was born on 26 May 1887 at Pathein in the Irrawaddy delta, son of U Poe Hla and Daw Nyunt.^[2]

Education

He passed university entry class from Rangoon Government High School. In 1907 he attended the University of Cambridge to study law and graduated in 1912. In the early 1950s, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters at the University of Rangoon.^[3]

Career

He was employed as a lawyer in Yangon between 1913 and 1921. In 1921 he became a district judge. In 1932, he was appointed to the High Court of Judicature at Rangoon as a judge. He was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Burma from 1948 to 1952. He was knighted in 1947. He was a member of the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League. Ba U served as a judge under British, Japanese and Burmese rule. In 1958, he wrote an autobiography, Ba, My Burma: The Autobiography of a President. It contains little in the way of a discussion of public issues.^[2]

Family

In 1913 he married Daw Nyein, daughter of retired district judge Aung Zan, and they had two sons. Daw Nyein died in 1922. In 1923 he married Daw Aye, daughter of governor Soe Pe. With her he had two sons and a daughter. Daw Aye died in 1941. He died on 9 November 1963.

References

^ Zan, Myint. "Judicial Independence in Burma: Constitutional History, Actual Practice and Future Prospects" (PDF). Southern Cross University Law Review. 4: 45.
^ ^a ^b Ba U (1958). My Burma: The Autobiography of a President. New York: Taplinger Publishing. ISBN 978-1258087005.
^ "Zan, Myint --- "The First and Fiftieth Years of Independent Burma's Law Reports" [2004] VUWLawRw 14; (2004) 35(2) Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 385". austlii.edu.au. Retrieved 30 August 2019.