Sir John Henry Newbolt (1769 - 22 January 1823) was an English judge who served as

Chief Justice of Madras The Madras High Court is a High Courts of India, High Court in India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is located in Chennai, and is the third old ...

and was founder of the

Madras Literary Society The Madras Literary Society is a learned society in Chennai (earlier called Madras), India which was founded in 1817 and in 1830 it became associated with the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. It was founded by Sir John Henry Newb ...

. He was Member of Parliament for

Bramber Bramber is a former manor, village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It has a ruined mediaeval castle which was the ''caput'' of a large feudal barony. Bramber is located on the northern edge of the South Downs ...

for 1800–02.

Biography

Born at Winchester, John was the first son of Reverend John Monk Newbolt and his wife Susanna. He studied at Winchester and at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, graduating in 1791. He studied law at

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...

and 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 ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1795. He worked for a while at the Chancery as a Secretary and then as a Commissioner of Bankruptcy (1796-1811). In 1794 he married the Elizabeth Juliana Digby, daughter of the

Dean of Durham The Dean of Durham is the "head" (''primus inter pares'' – first among equals) and chair of the Chapter, the ruling body of Durham Cathedral. The dean and chapter are based at the ''Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cu ...

, and they had three sons and a daughter. In 1800 he obtained with the help of

Lord Canning Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning, (14 December 1812 – 17 June 1862), also known as The Viscount Canning and Clemency Canning, was a British statesman and Governor-General of India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the first Vice ...

, a fellow alumnus of Christ Church, a Parliamentary seat at

which he held until 1802. In 1809, his wife died and he obtained a posting in India in 1810 as a puisne judge in Madras through the influence of Canning. He married Henrietta Blenkinsop in 1810 in Madras and they had one son and two daughters. He was knighted on 17 April 1810 and made Recorder of Bombay for 1811–12. In 1815 he succeeded

Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange Sir Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange (30 November 1756 – 16 July 1841) was a chief justice in Nova Scotia, known for waging "judicial war" to free Black Nova Scotian slaves from their owners. From 1789 to 1797, he was the sixth Chief Justice ...

and in 1817 he founded the Madras Literary Society. He resigned from his position as Chief Justice on 31 August 1820 and hoped to retire to a cottage on the Isle of Wight, but died suddenly at his home at Portswood Lodge, Southampton on 22 January 1823. He was buried at South Stoneham near Southampton, where a monument was erected in his memory .

References

1769 births 1823 deaths People from Winchester Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Alumni of All Souls College, Oxford Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1801–1802 Chief Justices of the Madras High Court British India judges MPs for rotten boroughs {{UK-law-bio-stub