Fred Louis Wham (June 15, 1884 – February 2, 1967) was a
United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...
of the
.
Education and career
Born in
Marion County,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, Wham received a
Bachelor of Laws
A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...
from the
University of Illinois College of Law
The University of Illinois College of Law at Urbana-Champaign is the law school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a public land-grant research university in Champaign and Urbana, Illinois. It was established in 1897 and offers th ...
in 1909. He was in private practice in
Fort Smith and
Fayetteville,
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
from 1909 to 1915. He was an Assistant Solicitor in the
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...
in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
from 1915 to 1917. He was in private practice in
Centralia, Illinois from 1917 to 1927.
Federal judicial service
On February 26, 1927, Wham was nominated by President
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously ...
to a seat on the
vacated by Judge
George W. English. Wham was confirmed by the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
on March 1, 1927, and received his commission the same day. He served as Chief Judge from 1949 to 1956, assuming
senior status on March 3, 1956, and serving in that capacity until his death on February 2, 1967.
References
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wham, Fred Louis
1884 births
1967 deaths
Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois
United States district court judges appointed by Calvin Coolidge
People from Marion County, Illinois
University of Illinois College of Law alumni
Arkansas lawyers
Illinois lawyers