Sir William Wightman (28 September 1784 – 10 December 1863) was a British judge.

Life

Wightman came of an old

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the hi ...

family, the son of William Wightman, gentleman, of St. Clement's, London, and his wife, Elisabeth. He was baptised at St Clement Danes at nearly 1 year old.''England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975'' He was an undergraduate of

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

, where he matriculated on 23 March 1801, and on 21 June was elected to a Michel exhibition at Queen's College, graduating BA on 30 May 1805, and MA on 23 October 1809; from 1859 to 1863 he was an honorary fellow of his college. On 31 January 1804, Wightman entered

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 ...

, and, after some years of practice as a special pleader, he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1821. In 1830 he transferred himself to the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

and joined the

Northern Circuit The Northern Circuit is a circuit of the General Council of the Bar and English judiciary. The Northern Circuit stretches from Carlisle in Cumberland at its northernmost point, running through Lakeland to the port of Whitehaven in the West, ...

. He was known as a sound and clear-headed lawyer, and for several years held the post of junior counsel to the treasury. In 1830, Wightman was appointed a member of the commission of 1830 upon the practice of the common law courts. In 1833, Wightman was appointed to the Royal Commission on the Criminal Law 1833, a

royal commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

to consolidate existing statutes of criminal law into an

English Criminal Code The jurisdiction of England and Wales does not have a Criminal Code though such an instrument has been often recommended and attempted. , the Law Commission (England and Wales), Law Commission is again working on the Code. History *1818 - Parlia ...

. He was engaged in many celebrated cases, particularly the prosecutions arising out of the Bristol riots; but, owing to an almost excessive modesty, was little known except to his profession. In February 1841 he was promoted to a judgeship of the Queen's Bench, on the resignation of Mr Justice Joseph Littledale, and was knighted on 28 April, and here he served as a judge for nearly 23 years. While on circuit at York, on 9 December 1863, he was seized with an attack of apoplexy, and died next day.

Family

Wightman married in 1819, Charlotte Mary Baird, daughter of James Baird of Lasswade, near Edinburgh. They had four daughters: * Caroline Elizabeth, who married the Rev. Peter Almeric Leheup Wood. * Mary Henrietta, who married Henry Roxby Benson.Patrick McCarthy, ''Mrs. Matthew Arnold'', Texas Studies in Literature and Language Vol. 12, No. 4 (Winter 1971), pp. 647–662, at pp. 652–653. Published by: University of Texas Press * Frances Lucy, who married

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold (academic), Tom Arnold, literary professor, and Willi ...

the poet. * Georgina, unmarried.

Arms

References

; Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Wightman, William 1784 births 1863 deaths English barristers Knights Bachelor Members of Lincoln's Inn Members of the Inner Temple Alumni of University College, Oxford Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Justices of the King's Bench 19th-century English judges