John George Witt (24 September 1836,

Denny Abbey Denny Abbey is a former abbey near Waterbeach, about north of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. It is now the Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey. The monastery was inhabited by a succession of three different religious orders. The site is a s ...

Waterbeach Waterbeach is a village north of Cambridge on the edge of The Fens, in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was designated a "new town" in 2018. History Early periods Waterbeach is on the Car Dyke, a Roman waterway ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

– 7 February 1906, London) was an English

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

Life

John George Witt was the second son of James Maling Witt (1799 – 1870), a prosperous Cambridgeshire farmer and barrister. He was taught at home by a governess and then attended

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

, where he was a

King's Scholar A King's Scholar, abbreviated KS in the United Kingdom, is the recipient of a scholarship from a foundation created by, or under the auspices of, a British monarch. The scholarships are awarded at certain Public school (United Kingdom), public ...

, 'Keeper of the Wall' and 'Captain of the School,' and founded 'College Pop.' He went from Eton to

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

, where he was a Fellow from 1859, won the 'Hulsean Prize' in 1860, played football for the university against Oxford, and obtained his B.A. in 1860 and his M.A. in 1863. Called to the Bar in 1864, he became a

Special Pleader A special pleader was a historical legal occupation. The practitioner, or "special pleader" in English law specialised in drafting "pleadings", in modern terminology statements of case. History Up to the 19th century, there were many rules, tech ...

on the South-Eastern Circuit. In 1888 he married Emily Anne Taylor, daughter of James Taylor, Esq. He was appointed a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1892, and was elected a Bencher of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

in 1895. He was caricatured by 'Spy' as 'A Sporting Lawyer' in '' Vanity Fair'' in 1898. His recreations were recorded as football, cricket, hunting and driving. From 1879 to 1894 he edited the ''Law Journal''. His books dealt with disparate subjects: the law, the history of Christian doctrine, and (in ''Three Villages'') the local history of villages in which he had successively lived: Waterbeach;

Swaffham Prior Swaffham Prior is a small village in East Cambridgeshire, England. Lying 5 miles west of Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket, and two miles south west of Burwell, Cambridgeshire, Burwell, the village is often paired with its neighbour Swaffham Bulbe ...

in Cambridgeshire; and, latterly,

Finchampstead Finchampstead is a village and civil parish in the Wokingham Borough in the shire of Berkshire, England. Bordering northeastern Hampshire to the south, its northern extremity is south of Wokingham, west of Bracknell, south-east of Reading, ...

in Berkshire. John George Witt died on 7 February 1906, 'in an omnibus in the Strand, on his way to the Law Courts.'

Works

*''The Mutual Influence of the Christian Doctrine and the School of Alexandria'', 1862 *''Then and Now'', 1897 *''Life in the Law'', 1900 *''Three Villages''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Witt, John George 1836 births 1906 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge 19th-century English lawyers People from Finchampstead