Henry Davison (judge)

Sir Henry Davison
Chief Justice of the Madras High Court
In office
1859–1860
Preceded bySir Christopher Rawlinson
Succeeded bySir Colley Harman Scotland
Personal details
Born16 March 1805
London, England
Died4 November 1860
Ootacamund, British India[1]
Occupationlawyer, judge
ProfessionChief Justice

Sir Henry Davison (16 March 1805 – 4 November 1860)[2] was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Madras from 1859 to 1860.[3]

The fourth son of Thomas Davison, of St Bride's, Fleet Street,[4] City of London, Davison was educated at Trinity College, Oxford (B.A. 1829, M.A. 1834), and called to the Bar from the Middle Temple in 1834.[2]

Having been a puisne judge at Madras (sworn in 16 March 1857),[5] Davison was appointed Chief Justice in March 1859,[6] but did not serve for long, dying at Ootacamund on 4 November 1860.[7] William Makepeace Thackeray affectionately dedicated his historical novel The Virginians (published from 1857 to 1859) to Davison.[8][9]

Davison was married and had issue; his daughter, Emily Jane, married the organist Philip Armes in 1864.[10][11][12]

  1. ^ Accounts and Papers thirty-eight volumes 11: East India- Progress and Condition, Session 6 February - 7 August 1862, vol. 39, House of Commons, 1862, p. 211
  2. ^ a b Alumni Oxonienses, 1715-1886, later series, A-D, ed. Joseph Foster, Parker & Co., 1888, p. 352
  3. ^ "The former Chief Justices". hcmadras.tn.nic.in. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  4. ^ Modern English Biography, Frederick Boase, Netherton & Worth, 1892, pp. 831-2
  5. ^ Journal of Indian History, vol. XVII, parts I-III, Department of History, University of Kerala, 1939, p. 284
  6. ^ The Madras University Calendar, 1859, printed by D. P. L. C. Connor, The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1858, p. 22
  7. ^ East India- Statement regarding the moral and material progress and condition of India, during the year 1860-61, Part I, India Office, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 14 May 1862, 'Annual Report on the Administration of the Madras Presidency, during the year 1860-61', p. 211
  8. ^ The Madras Presidency, with Mysore, Coorg, and the associated states, E. Thurston, Cambridge, 1913, 'The Roll of Honour', p. 242
  9. ^ The Nilgiris, Madras District Gazetteer, W. Francis, Logos Press, 1908 (reprint 1984), p. 360
  10. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review, vol. 216, ed. Sylvanus Urban, 1864, p. 247
  11. ^ "Philip Armes". www.duresme.org.uk.
  12. ^ Dictionary of National Biography (1912 supplement), ed. Sidney Lee, vol. I, 1912, pp. 53-54