Sir John Wickens (13 June 1815 – 25 October 1873) was an English barrister and judge. John Wickens Perkins

Life

The second son of James Stephen Wickens of Chandos Street,

Cavendish Square Cavendish Square is a public garden square in Marylebone in the West End of London. It has a double-helix underground commercial car park. Its northern road forms ends of four streets: of Wigmore Street that runs to Portman Square in the much la ...

, London by his wife, Anne Goodenough, daughter of John Hayter of

Winterbourne Stoke Winterbourne Stoke is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about west of Amesbury and west of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. The village is on the River Till at the southern edge of Salisbury Plain, on both sides of a s ...

, Wiltshire, was born at his father's house on 13 June 1815. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

under John Keate. Wickens won in 1832 an open scholarship at Balliol College, Oxford, matriculating on 30 November. He graduated B.A. with a

double first The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in Michaelmas term 1836, and M.A. in 1839, but was an unsuccessful candidate for a Balliol fellowship (a later rumour put this down to ill-timed display of his wit). Having entered Lincoln's Inn, he was called to the bar in May 1840. A conveyancer and equity draftsman, Wickens had a practice that reaped the benefit when in 1852 a number of leading juniors

took silk In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or a ...

. He appeared frequently before the House of Lords and the privy council. During the later years of his career as barrister he was equity counsel to the treasury; he was never Q.C. nor a parliamentary candidate. Horace Davey was one of his pupils in the late 1850s, when his chambers had a high reputation on the equity side. In 1868 Wickens was made vice-chancellor of the

county palatine of Lancaster Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashir ...

on the elevation of Sir

William Milbourne James Admiral Sir William Milbourne James, (22 December 1881 – 17 August 1973) was a British naval commander, politician and author. He served in the Royal Navy from the early 20th century to the Second World War. During the First World War, he wa ...

as Lord Justice of Appeal. In 1871 he was elected a bencher of his inn, and in April of that year was raised to the bench as Vice-Chancellor of England in succession to Sir John Stuart, and was knighted. As a judge he was considered to stay rather close to the case law. Wickens's health broke down within a short period of his appointment, and he died at his seat, Chilgrove, near

Chichester Chichester () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publi ...

, on 23 October 1873.

Family

Wickens married, in 1845, Harriet Frances, daughter of William Davey of Cowley House,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. His daughter, Mary Erskine, married Mr. Justice

George Farwell George Michell Farwell (3 October 1911 – 6 August 1976) was an English-born Australian novelist, freelance journalist, broadcaster and travel writer. Early career Farwell was born in Bath, Somerset, England. and was educated at a number of dif ...

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Wickens, John 1815 births 1873 deaths English barristers People educated at Eton College Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Members of Lincoln's Inn 19th-century English judges