William Langdon

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title: "William Langdon" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1873-births", "1939-deaths", "justices-of-the-supreme-court-of-california", "district-attorneys-in-california", "american-bankers", "united-states-independence-party-politicians", "people-from-alameda-county,-california", "u.s.-state-supreme-court-judges-admitted-to-the-practice-of-law-by-reading-law", "superior-court-judges-in-the-united-states", "lawyers-from-san-francisco", "20th-century-california-state-court-judges", "20th-century-american-lawyers", "san-francisco-unified-school-district-superintendents", "san-jose-state-university-alumni", "union-labor-party-(california)-politicians"] description: "American judge (1873-1939)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Langdon" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American judge (1873-1939) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	William Henry Langdon
image	Justice Wm. H. Langdon.jpg
caption	Langdon 1937
office1	Associate Justice of the
California Supreme Court
termstart1	January 4, 1927
termend1	August 10, 1939
predecessor1	Jeremiah F. Sullivan
successor1	Phil S. Gibson
office2	Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal, First District, Division Two
termstart2	January 1, 1919
termend2	January 3, 1927
appointer2	William Stephens
predecessor2	New seat
successor2	Joseph Koford
office3	Judge of the
Stanislaus County Superior Court
termstart3	August 9, 1915
termend3	December 31, 1918
appointer3	Hiram Johnson
office4	President of the
California State Board of Education
term_start4	September 10, 1913
term_end4	August 8, 1915
predecessor4	Hiram Johnson
successor4	E. P. Clarke
office5	Member of the
California State Board of Education
appointer5	Hiram Johnson
term_start5	August 29, 1913
term_end5	September 17, 1917
office6	18th District Attorney of San Francisco
term_start6	January 8, 1906
term_end6	January 8, 1910
predecessor6	Lewis Francis Byington
successor6	Charles Fickert
office7	San Francisco Superintendent of Schools
term_start7	January 8, 1903
term_end7	January 8, 1906
predecessor7	Reginald H. Webster
successor7	Alfred Roncovieri
birth_name	William Henry Langdon
birth_date
birth_place	Alameda County, California, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Hillsborough, California, U.S.
party	Union Labor
Independence
Republican
Democratic
spouse
children	3
alma_mater	California State Normal School (honorary B.A.)
::

| name = William Henry Langdon | image = Justice Wm. H. Langdon.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Langdon 1937 | order = | office1 = Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court | termstart1 = January 4, 1927 | termend1 = August 10, 1939 | nominator1 = | appointer1 = | predecessor1 = Jeremiah F. Sullivan | successor1 = Phil S. Gibson | order2 = | office2 = Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal, First District, Division Two | termstart2 = January 1, 1919 | termend2 = January 3, 1927 | nominator2 = | appointer2 = William Stephens | predecessor2 = New seat | successor2 = Joseph Koford | office3 = Judge of the Stanislaus County Superior Court | termstart3 = August 9, 1915 | termend3 = December 31, 1918 | nominator3 = | appointer3 = Hiram Johnson | predecessor3 = | successor3 = | office4 = President of the California State Board of Education | term_start4 = September 10, 1913 | term_end4 = August 8, 1915 | predecessor4 = Hiram Johnson | successor4 = E. P. Clarke | office5 = Member of the California State Board of Education | appointer5 = Hiram Johnson | term_start5 = August 29, 1913 | term_end5 = September 17, 1917 | predecessor5 = | successor5 = | office6 = 18th District Attorney of San Francisco | term_start6 = January 8, 1906 | term_end6 = January 8, 1910 | predecessor6 = Lewis Francis Byington | successor6 = Charles Fickert | office7 = San Francisco Superintendent of Schools | term_start7 = January 8, 1903 | term_end7 = January 8, 1906 | predecessor7 = Reginald H. Webster | successor7 = Alfred Roncovieri | birth_name = William Henry Langdon | birth_date = | birth_place = Alameda County, California, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Hillsborough, California, U.S. | party = Union Labor Independence Republican Democratic | religion = | spouse = | children = 3 |alma_mater = California State Normal School (honorary B.A.) William Henry Langdon (September 25, 1873 – August 10, 1939) was an American banker, lawyer and politician who served as Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court from 1927 to 1939. He previously served as District Attorney of San Francisco during the San Francisco graft trials.

Education and early career

Langdon was born near Dublin, Alameda County, California, to Irish immigrants William and Annie Langdon. Following the death of Langdon's father in 1875, his mother ran a cattle and wheat ranch. Langdon was educated in the public schools and Hayward High School. He graduated from the California State Normal School to become a teacher, while also studying law in the offices of future Supreme Court Justice John E. Richards. In 1896, Langdon was admitted to the state Bar. Langdon served as vice principal and principal at schools in San Leandro, Fresno, and San Francisco, eventually becoming the city's school superintendent in 1902.

Legal and judicial career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Up_A_Tree,_Wasp_Caricature_of_Langdon,_Ruef_and_Schmitz,_1906.jpg" caption="The Wasp]]'' depicting Langdon's raids on the city's gambling dens, March 24, 1906"] ::

In November 1905, city voters elected Langdon as district attorney of San Francisco, and in 1907 re-elected him to a second term. A popular district attorney, Langdon was nominated by the Independence League as its choice for governor in the 1906 elections. Langdon's presence as a strong third party candidacy won over 14 percent of the vote, proving to be a spoiler vote in a tight race between Democrat Theodore A. Bell and Republican James Gillett. In 1907, one year after the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake, Langdon carried out the successful prosecutions both of Mayor Eugene Schmitz and political machine operator Abe Ruef for bribery and extortion, along with special assistants Francis J. Heney, Hiram Johnson and Matt Sullivan.

After his tenure as district attorney, Langdon entered banking, serving with several banks around Modesto and managing the property his wife had inherited from her first husband.

In 1913, Langdon was appointed to the State Board of Education by governor Hiram Johnson, his former colleague in the graft trials. He was elected president of the board, serving in the latter position until 1915 and the former until 1917.

In 1915, he reentered law when Governor Hiram Johnson appointed Langdon a judge of the Superior Court of Stanislaus County. In December 1918, Governor William Stephens appointed Langdon presiding judge of the newly minted First District, Second Division, of the California Court of Appeal. In 1920, Langdon was elected to a full term.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/William_Langdon_Touchup.png" caption="Langdon {{circa}} 1924"] ::

In November 1926, Langdon won election to a 12-year term as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California, where he served the next nineteen years until his death in 1939. Langdon filled the unexpired term of William P. Lawlor, who died in office in July 1926, and whose seat was filled for three months by the appointment of Jeremiah F. Sullivan. From 1930 until 1939, treatise author Bernard E. Witkin served as Langdon's law clerk. In October 1939, the vacancy in Langdon's seat was filled by Governor Culbert Olson with the appointment of Phil S. Gibson.

Among Langdon's notable opinions is his 1930 dissent in the denial of a commuted sentence of convicted double murderer Ernest A. Dias. The majority of the court upheld the death penalty, but in dissent Langdon urged the governor to grant executive clemency on the basis of Dias' mental incompetence at the time of the killings. Another dissent that year came when Warren K Billings, convicted of perpetrating the 1916 San francisco Preparedness Day bombing alongside Tom Mooney, appealed to the court for a pardon. Although the majority of the court denied his request, Langdon dissented on the grounds that Billings had no obligation to prove his innocence, but rather that the prosecution had an obligation to prove his guilt.

Personal life

On April 20, 1908, he married Stanford-trained school teacher Myrtie Conneau McHenry (December 2, 1878 – August 18, 1959), a wealthy widow from Modesto, California. They had one son: Lawton William Langdon (April 15, 1913 – September 23, 1960). His wife, Myrtie, also had two children from her first marriage: Lois Ann ("Annie") Langdon (Moran) (January 28, 1910 – May 11, 1973) and Merl McHenry (December 3, 1903 – January 3, 1994).

References

Sources

• Leonard, John William (1911). Who's Who in Finance and Banking: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries, 1920–1922. New York, NY: Joseph & Sefton. p. 402.

References

1. (November 2, 1926). "Judge Langdon Now Candidate Belongs to Us". Hayward Semi-Weekly Review.
2. (4 April 1912). "Mrs. Annie Langdon, Summoned by Death". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
3. (30 December 1912). "Alumni of San Jose Normal to Meet Here". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
4. (2 December 1902). "Contests the Election of William Langdon". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
5. (6 January 1903). "Election Contest Dismissed". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
6. (1913). "Who's who on the Pacific Coast: A Biographical Compilation of Notable Living Contemporaries West of the Rocky Mountains". Harper Publishing.
7. (2000). "The Human Tradition in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era". Rowman & Littlefield.
8. (31 August 1913). "Langdon Likely to Head State Education Board". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
9. (1915). "California Blue Book 1913-1915". California State Printing Office.
10. (11 September 1913). "New state school board organizes". [[Fresno Morning Republican]].
11. (17 September 1915). ""True facts" about Board of Education". Santa Cruz Surf.
12. (12 August 1915). "Judge William H. Langdon dons the juducial ermine". Oakdale Leader.
13. (1924). "California Blue Book 1924". California State Printing Office.
14. (12 August 1915). "Judge Langdon Tries First Criminal Case". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
15. (19 December 1918). "Needham Successor to Judge Langdon". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
16. (1 October 1920). "Official Vote in Primary". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
17. (4 November 1926). "State Returns". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
18. Johnson, J. Edward (1966). "William H. Langdon", [http://library.courtinfo.ca.gov/included/docs/SCJC_Vol_2.pdf ''History of the Supreme Court Justices of California, 1900–1950''] {{Webarchive. link. (January 25, 2017 . San Francisco, CA: Bancroft-Whitney. pp. 131–36. Retrieved July 18, 2017.)
19. (February 1996). "The passing of a legal giant". California Bar Journal.
20. (16 August 1939). "Gibson Chosen Langdon Place". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
21. (21 October 1930). "Judge Dissents in Death Verdict". California Digital Newspaper Collection.
22. (May 1931). "Tom Mooney Betrayed by Labor Leaders". Tom Mooney Molders Defense Committee.
23. (2002). "Dust On My Shoulders". Xlibris Corporation.

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