Sir William Henry Rattigan, KC (4 September 1842 – 4 July 1904) was a British judge and

Liberal Unionist The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a political ...

MP for North East Lanarkshire.

Background and education

Rattigan was born in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, India, in September 1842, the son of Bartholomew Rattigan, of Athy, Co. Kildare. He was educated at the High School,

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

, and

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, and was admitted to bar as a member of

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 1873. He later received a doctorate (

LL.D Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the earl ...

) from the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

Legal and political career

Most of his legal career took place in India. He served as judge in the Chief Court of the Punjab on four occasions, was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1895,

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 ...

in 1897 and practiced in the High court of the North Western Provinces. He was also an additional member of the supreme legislative council of India 1892–93, and member of the Punjab legislative council 1898–99. In 1887 he was Vice-Chancellor of Punjab University, from which he later received an honorary doctorate (LL.D). An honorary doctorate (LL.D) from the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

followed in June 1901. After moving back to the United Kingdom, Rattigan contested the North East Lanarkshire constituency in the general election 1900, but lost to the incumbent, John Colville. When the latter died the following year, Rattigan contested and won a by-election in for the same constituency in September 1901, and held it until his death in London three years later. Rattigan died in a motor accident on 4 July 1904.

Family

Rattigan married, in 1878, Evelyn Higgins, daughter of Colonel A. Higgins, CIE. His son Sir Henry Adolphus Rattigan later achieved note as the Chief Justice of the

Lahore High Court The Lahore High Court () is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab (Pakistan). The High Court's principal seat is in Lahore, but there are benches in th ...

, while his youngest son Cyril Stanley Rattigan played first-class cricket and was killed in action during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Publications

*''The Roman Law of Persons'', 1873 *''The Science of Jurisprudence'', 1892 *''Private International Law'', 1895 *''Digest of Customary Law for Punjab'', 1895

Notes

References

* This source gives his date of death as 1905.

External links

* * * 1842 births 1904 deaths Alumni of King's College London Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies UK MPs 1900–1906 Liberal Unionist Party MPs for Scottish constituencies Vice-Chancellors of the University of the Punjab British King's Counsel Road incident deaths in the United Kingdom {{Scotland-UK-MP-stub