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.