William Chester Lankford

William Chester Lankford (December 7, 1877 – December 10, 1964) was an American politician, teacher, jurist and lawyer from the state of Georgia.

Lankford was born in the Camp Creek Community of Clinch County, Georgia in 1874 and graduated from the Jasper Normal Institute in Jasper, Florida in 1897, the Georgia Normal College and Business Institute in Abbeville, Georgia, in 1900. He then studied law at the University of Georgia School of Law and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree in 1901.

After moving to Douglas, Georgia in 1901, Lankford began the practice of law in that city. In 1906, he was elected as Mayor of Douglas and became a member of the city Board of Education the following year. He remained on that board until 1918. On January 1, 1908, Lankford became a judge of the city court. He resigned that post on May 1, 1916, to run an unsuccessful campaign that year for the United States House of Representatives. Lankford ran again for the 66th United States Congress in 1918 and was elected as a Democrat to represent Georgia's 11th congressional district. He won reelection to that seat six additional terms before losing his reelection bid in 1932.

Following his congressional service, Lankford returned to practicing law. He worked in the General Accounting Office in Washington, D.C. from January 1935 through October 1942. On December 10, 1964, he died in Twin Lakes, Georgia and was buried in Douglas Cemetery in the city of Douglas.

References

• William Chester Lankford at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• History of the University of Georgia, Thomas Walter Reed, Imprint: Athens, Georgia : University of Georgia, ca. 1949, p.1924