Unknown artist, 1760-1775, circa
Image courtesy Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Born 1716, in King William County, Virginia
Died May 1, 1786 in Williamsburg, Virginia

Elected presiding judge of the Court of Admiralty in May 1779 and became a member, ex-officio, of the Court of Appeals when it met for the first time on August 30, 1779. Service terminated by resignation.

Education:
Attended College of William and Mary, after 1720
Read law in the library of attorney Sir John Randolph in Williamsburg

Other judicial service:
Presiding Judge, Court of Admiralty, 1779-1786

Professional career:
Secretary to the clerk of the General Court, circa 1734-1736
Deputy clerk, James City County Court, 1737
King’s attorney, Gloucester County, 1738
Private practice, Williamsburg, 1738
King’s attorney, James City County, 1739
Clerk, James City County Court and General Court in Williamsburg, 1739-1777, circa
Burgess, Virginia House of Burgesses, 1744-1761
Governor’s Council, 1778-1779

Further reading/Research collections

Sources:
Service on the Court of Admiralty (May 1779 to January 1786), Lynda Rees Heaton, “‘This Excellent Man’: Littleton Waller Tazewell’s Sketch of Benjamin Waller,” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, v. 89, No. 2 (April 1981), 141, note 15; attended the College of William and Mary, A Provisional List of Alumni, Grammar School Students, Members of the Faculty, and Members of the Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary in Virginia From 1693-1888 (Richmond: Division of Purchase and Printing, 1941), 42; birth, death, legal training, and career, see Heaton, “‘This Excellent Man,” 143-152. For Waller’s service on the courts, Heaton cites W.W. Hening, editor, The Statues at Large; Being a Collection of all the laws of Virginia , and W.P. Palmer, et al., editors, Calendar of Virginia State Papers, IV, 79; and his letter of resignation, November 28, 1785, in the papers of James Madison.