Henry Cadogan Rothery (1817 – 2 August 1888) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

lawyer and commissioner of wrecks (now known as the

Receiver of Wreck The Receiver of Wreck is an official who administers law dealing with maritime wrecks and salvage in some countries having a British administrative heritage. In the United Kingdom, the Receiver of Wreck is also appointed to retain the possession o ...

), especially remembered for chairing the inquiry into the

Tay Bridge disaster The Tay Bridge disaster occurred during a violent storm on Sunday 28 December 1879, when the first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed as a North British Railway (NBR) passenger train on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line from Burntisland bound for its final ...

in 1879.

Life

Rothery was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. His father was William Rothery, chief of the office of the King's Proctor in

Doctors' Commons Doctors' Commons, also called the College of Civilians, was a society of lawyers practising civil (as opposed to common) law in London, namely ecclesiastical and admiralty law. Like the Inns of Court of the common lawyers, the society had buildi ...

. Henry was educated at

St. John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

, where he graduated

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1840, as nineteenth wrangler in the

mathematical tripos The Mathematical Tripos is the mathematics course that is taught in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. It is the oldest Tripos examined at the University. Origin In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was ...

, and

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1845. After leaving the university he entered Doctors' Commons, and from 1842 practised in the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts. On 26 November 1853 he was appointed

registrar A registrar is an official keeper of records made in a register. The term may refer to: Education * Registrar (education), an official in an academic institution who handles student records * Registrar of the University of Oxford, one of the se ...

of the admiralty court. Soon after, he became registrar of the Privy Council in ecclesiastical and maritime cases. In 1860 he was made legal adviser to

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ...

in questions and proceedings arising out of the

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. On account of his large experience gathered in the court of

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

, in 1876 he was appointed commissioner to inquire into the causes and circumstances of

shipwrecks A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

, and to conduct investigations into casualties at sea. He began his duties towards the close of 1876. His inquiries indicated many preventible causes of maritime losses.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', 3 Aug. 1888 ''p.''10, 6 Aug. ''p.''9, 8 Aug. ''p.''9 His judgments on fire at sea in coal-laden vessels, on certain methods of stowing grain, on

ship stability Ship stability is an area of naval architecture and ship design that deals with how a ship behaves at sea, both in still water and in waves, whether intact or damaged. Stability calculations focus on centers of gravity, centers of buoyancy, the ...

, and on overloading were especially valuable.

Tay bridge disaster

Original_Tay_Bridge_before_the_1879_collapse

He chaired the public inquiry into the

, when an express train was lost by the collapse of the bridge across the Tay estuary on the night of December 28, 1879. He was assisted by the Chief inspector of Railways,

William Yolland William Yolland CB, FRS FRSA (17 March 1810 – 4 September 1885) was an English military surveyor, astronomer and engineer, and was Britain's Chief Inspector of Railways from 1877 until his death. He was a redoubtable campaigner for railway s ...

and

William Henry Barlow William Henry Barlow FRS FRSE FICE MIMechE (10 May 1812 – 12 November 1902) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with railway engineering projects. Barlow was involved in many engineering ent ...

, President of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

. The inquiry sat initially in Dundee to hear eyewitness accounts of the accident, and then at

Westminster Hall The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

for

expert evidence An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...

. They produced their final report in June 1880, and concluded that the bridge was "badly designed, badly built and badly maintained". Although they all agreed on the root causes of the disaster, his fellow judges Yolland and Barlow produced their own final report which hesitated in placing the blame on the chief engineer,

Thomas Bouch Sir Thomas Bouch (; 25 February 1822 – 30 October 1880) was a British railway engineer. He was born in Thursby, near Carlisle, Cumberland, and lived in Edinburgh. As manager of the Edinburgh and Northern Railway he introduced the first roll ...

. He himself died a few months after the inquiry reported in June 1880. The reports were made in a remarkably short time considering the wealth of evidence they had to consider. The remains were demolished and a new bridge built alongside the old with a double line of tracks.

Personal life

He married Madelina, ''née'' Garden, in 1851 but the couple had no children. He retired in the early summer of 1888 and died at Ribsden,

Windlesham Windlesham is a village in the Surrey Heath borough of Surrey, England, approximately south west of central London. Its name derives from the Windle Brook, which runs south of the village into Chobham, and the common suffix 'ham', the Old Engli ...

, Surrey.

References

Bibliography

*Lewis, Peter R., ''Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay: Reinvestigating the Tay Bridge Disaster of 1879'', Tempus, 2004, . *Rothery, H. C. (1853) ''Suggestions for an Improved Mode of Pleading, and of taking Oral Depositions in Causes conducted by Plea and Responsive Allegation'' *— (1868) ''Return of all Appeals in Cases of Doctrine or Discipline made to the High Court of Delegates'', (''Rothery's Precedents'') printed by order of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

*— (1873) ''A Defence of the Rule of the Admiralty Court in Cases of Collisions between Ships'' *Squarey, T. F. (1882) ''A Digest of the Judgments in Board of Trade Inquiries into Shipping Casualties, delivered by H. C. Rothery from 1876–1880, with a Chapter on the Procedure of the Court'' ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Rothery, Henry Cadogan 1817 births 1888 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 19th-century English judges Law of the sea