Sir Codrington Edmund Carrington, FRS, FSA (22 October 1769 – 28 November 1849) was an English barrister,

Chief Justice of Ceylon The Chief Justice of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head of the judiciary of Sri Lanka and the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. Established in 1801, the Chief Justice is one of ten Supreme Court justices; the other nine are ...

, and a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Life

He was the son of Codrington Carrington, of the Blackmoor estate on

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

, and the eldest daughter of the Rev. Edmund Morris, rector of Nutshalling, the friend of Lady Hervey; and was born at Longwood, Hampshire, on 22 October 1769. He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

and

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 ...

at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

on 10 February 1792. In the same year he went to India, where, being admitted an advocate of the supreme court of judicature, he for some time acted at

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

as junior counsel to the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

, and made the acquaintance of

Sir William Jones Sir William Jones (28 September 1746 – 27 April 1794) was a British philologist, a puisne judge on the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, and a scholar of ancient India. He is particularly known for his proposition of th ...

. Carrington returned to England for health reasons in 1799. In 1800, still in England, he was called on to prepare a code of laws for

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, and was then appointed the first chief justice of the supreme court of judicature that had been created. He was knighted before he embarked on his outward voyage. In 1806 Carrington was compelled by bad health to resign his post, and declined other colonial appointments. Having purchased an estate in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, he became a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant of that county, where he acted for many years as chairman of the quarter sessions. He was created DCL and elected

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

, and honorary member of the

Société Française Statistique Universelle Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

. In June 1826 Carrington was elected Tory M.P. for St. Mawes, which he continued to represent till 1831. During his last years he resided mainly at

St Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; french: Saint-Hélier) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of 35,822 – over one-third of the total population of Jersey – ...

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

. He died at

Exmouth Exmouth is a harbor, port town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the List of town ...

on 28 November 1849.

Works

After the Manchester riots of 1819 Carrington published ''Inquiry into the Law relative to Public Assemblies of the People''. He was also the author of a ''Letter to the Marquis of Buckingham on the Condition of Prisons'' (1819), and other pamphlets.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Carrington, Codrington Edmund 1769 births 1849 deaths Chief Justices of British Ceylon British expatriates in Sri Lanka 19th-century Sri Lankan people Sri Lankan people of British descent People of British Ceylon English barristers 19th-century English judges Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for St Mawes Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs 1830–1831 British India judges