Sir William Comer Petheram (1835 – 15 May 1922) was the Chief Justice of

Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located at Esplanade Row West, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. T ...

and Vice Chancellor of

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

. He was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in 1884.

Career

Petheram was born in 1835 in Lympsham, Somerset, the son of William Petheram of Pinhoe. In 1862 he was qualified as Special Pleader and passed from

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1869. He joined service as Chief Judge of the Chief Court of North-Western Provinces in India. Petheram first served as Chief justice of

Allahabad High Court Allahabad High Court, officially known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, is the high court based in the city of Prayagraj, formerly known as Allahabad, that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established o ...

in 1884 to 1886 then became the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court on 24 March 1886 after Sir Richard Garth and retired in November 1896. In 1887-90 he was also the Vice Chancellor of the Calcutta University. In 1864, he wrote a book named ''The law and practice relating to discovery by interrogatories under the Common law procedure act, 1854''. He presided over the first seditious libel case in colonial india. He was knighted in 1884. He married Isabel Congreve, daughter of

Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet KCH FRS (20 May 1772 – 16 May 1828) was a British Army officer, Tory politician, publisher and inventor. A pioneer in the field of rocket artillery, he was renowned for his development and use of Congreve r ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petheram, Sir William Comer 1835 births 1922 deaths Knights Bachelor Members of the Middle Temple British India judges Judges of the Calcutta High Court 19th-century Indian judges Chief justices of the Calcutta High Court 19th-century English judges English barristers People from Lympsham Date of birth missing