James William Geldart LL.D. (1785–1876) was an English cleric and academic. He was Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge, from 1814 to 1847.

Life

The eldest son of the Rev. James Geldart, rector of

Kirk Deighton Kirk Deighton is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated north-west of Wetherby, to which it is contiguous, and near the A1(M). The village was in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and Wethe ...

, Yorkshire (died 12 November 1839), and his wife Sarah, daughter of William Williamson of Linton Spring,

Wetherby Wetherby () is a market town and civil parish in the City of Leeds district, West Yorkshire, England, close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire, and lies approximately from Leeds City Centre, from York and from Harrogat ...

, he was born at Swinnow Hall, Wetherby, on 15 February 1785. He was educated at Beverley grammar school, and was admitted at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

on 5 May 1800, becoming a scholar in December 1803. On 16 February 1808 he was elected Skirne Fellow of St. Catharine's Hall, but returned to Trinity Hall as a Fellow and tutor on 4 October 1809. He resided there as vice-master until 1820. Geldart took the degree of LL.B. in 1806 and became LL.D. in 1814. On 28 January 1814 he was admitted Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge, on the nomination of

Lord Liverpool Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He held many important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secret ...

. A reforming professor, he lectured often, and introduced a written examination at Cambridge for the LL.B. degree in the absence of official sanction from the Senate. He continued in the post until 1847. After the death of his father, and on his own presentation, Geldart became rector of Kirk Deighton in January 1840, and held the benefice for the rest of his life. He died in the rectory house there on 16 February 1876, and was buried in Kirk Deighton churchyard on 19 February.

Works

Geldart produced an edition in 1836 of ''An Analysis of the Civil Law'' by Samuel Hallifax, the set text of his lectures.

Family

Geldart married, on 4 August 1836, Mary Rachel, daughter of William Desborough of

Hemingford Grey Hemingford Grey is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Hemingford Grey lies approximately east of Huntingdon. Hemingford Grey is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well a ...

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

, who survived him. He left two sons, James William Geldart who became rector of Kirk Deighton, and Henry Charles Geldart, who was

Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire This is an ''incomplete'' list of Sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in England from 1154 until the abolition of the office in 1965. Exceptionally, the two counties shared a single sheriff. Sheriffs had a one-year term of office, bei ...

in 1887–8.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Geldart, James William 1785 births 1876 deaths Fellows of Trinity Hall, Cambridge 19th-century English Anglican priests English legal professionals