Home County: St. Louis
Term of service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: August 1851-November 1854
Judge Hamilton Rowan Gamble was born November 29, 1798, in Winchester County, Virginia.[i] After receiving an education at Hampden-Sidney College, Gamble studied law and was admitted to the bar in three states.[ii] He traveled in late 1818 to St. Louis, where he was appointed by his brother, Archibald Gamble, clerk of the St. Louis circuit court, to the position of deputy clerk.[iii] After living in St. Louis for a short time, he moved to Old Franklin, in Howard County.[iv] He became the prosecuting attorney of the circuit in Howard County.[v] In November 1824, Gamble was appointed secretary of state by Governor Frederick Bates.[vi] After the death of Governor Bates, Gamble resigned in 1826, and established a law practice with Edward Bates, brother of the late governor.[vii] Gamble returned to politics and was elected to the state legislature in 1844.[viii]
During the August 1851 election, Gamble was elected a judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri, beginning his service in October 1851.[ix] He was one of the three judges who heard the Dred Scott case.[x] Judge Gamble resigned from the court in November 1854, due to his health.[xi] In 1858, Gamble retired to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[xii] Gamble’s retirement from public service and his time away from Missouri, however, was brief.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, he returned to the state.[xiii] When the state convention voted to vacate all executive offices in July 1861, Gamble was elected governor of the provisional government.[xiv] He was inaugurated August 1, 1861.[xv]
Gamble died, while governor of the state, on January 31, 1864.[xvi]
[i] “Death of Gov. Gamble,” Daily Missouri Republican, St. Louis, Missouri, Monday, February 1, 1864, page 2, column 1. Information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia Newspaper Database, accessed July 2017, available from http://shsmo.org/newspaper/. See also Hugh P. Williamson, “Hamilton Rowan Gamble: Lawyer, Jurist, Statesman,” Journal of the Missouri Bar, 15, December, 1959, 531.
[ii] Hugh P. Williamson, Journal of the Missouri Bar, 531.
[iii] Howard L. Conard, ed., “Gamble, Hamilton Rowan,” Encyclopedia of Missouri History, Vol. II (St. Louis, MO: The Southern History Co., 1901), 552.
[iv] Hugh P. Williamson, Journal of the Missouri Bar, 531.
[v] Hugh P. Williamson, Journal of the Missouri Bar, 531.
[vi] Hugh P. Williamson, Journal of the Missouri Bar, 531.
[vii] Howard L. Conard, ed. The Encyclopedia of Missouri History, 552.
[viii] Hugh P. Williamson, Journal of the Missouri Bar, 532.
[ix] Supreme Court of Missouri Special Session, In the Matter of the Presentation of the Portrait of the Honorable James Harvey Birch (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri, 1961), 8. Hugh P. Williamson, Journal of the Missouri Bar, 532.
[x] Perry McCandless, William E. Parrish ed. A History of Missouri Vol. II (1820-1860) (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2000), 260.
[xi] “Election of Judge of the Supreme Court,” Boonville Weekly Observer, Boonville, Missouri, Saturday, November 25, 1854, page 2, column 1. Information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia Newspaper Database, accessed July 2017, available from http://shsmo.org/newspaper/. See also John F. Phillips, “Hamilton Rowan Gamble and the Provisional Government of Missouri,” Missouri Historical Review, Vol. 5, No. 1, October, 1910, 3.
[xii] Howard L. Conard, ed. The Encyclopedia of Missouri History, Vol. II, 553.
[xiii] Howard L. Conard, ed. The Encyclopedia of Missouri History, Vol, II, 553.
[xiv] Journal of the Missouri State Convention, Held at Jefferson City St. Louis, MO: George Knapp & Co., 1861), 25. See also Hugh P. Williamson, Journal of the Missouri Bar, 537.
[xv] Hugh P. Williamson, Journal of the Missouri Bar, 537.
[xvi] “The Funeral of Gov. Gamble,” Daily Missouri Republican, St. Louis, Missouri, Thursday, February 4, 1864, page 2, column 1. Information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia Newspaper Database, accessed July 2017, available from http://shsmo.org/newspaper/. See also Hugh P. Williamson, Journal of the Missouri Bar, 538.
Biographical information authored by Mr. Matt Orf, 2017, University of Missouri-Columbia.