Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 61.djvu/204

 and three with Robert Harland. Nearly all of these papers deal with various points of analytical chemistry.



WIGRAM, JAMES (1793–1866), vice-chancellor, was the third son, by his second wife (Eleanor, daughter of John Watts), of Sir Robert Wigram, a merchant and shipowner, of London and Wexford, who was M.P. for Wexford and Fowey, was created a baronet in 1805, and died on 6 Nov. 1830. His elder brother, the second baronet, assumed the name of Fitzwygram in 1832; another brother was [q. v.] Born at his father's residence, Walthamstow House, Essex, on 5 Nov. 1793, James was educated privately and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. as fifth wrangler in 1815, gained a fellowship two years later, and proceeded M.A. in 1818. Being admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn on 18 June 1813, he was called to the bar by that society on 18 Nov. 1819, and, attaching himself to the court of chancery, pursued his profession with much industry. In Michaelmas vacation 1834 he attained the rank of king's counsel, and, being invited to the bench of Lincoln's Inn on 15 Jan. 1835, he took his seat as such on 30 Jan. following. Wigram was the author of two legal works, his ‘Examination of the Rules of Law respecting the Admission of Extrinsic Evidence in aid of the Interpretation of Wills,’ first published in 1831, having run through four editions; while in 1836 appeared his ‘Points in the Law of Discovery.’ These useful publications led to an interesting correspondence with some of the American judges, among whom was Dr. Story, the eminent commentator.

On 28 Oct. 1818 he married Anne (d. 1844), daughter of Richard Arkwright of Willersley, Derbyshire, and granddaughter of Sir [q. v.], whose family had also considerable property in the neighbourhood of Leominster in Herefordshire. Supported by this family interest, Wigram fought a contested election for Leominster on tory principles in 1837, but was defeated at the poll. He was, however, returned for the borough without opposition at the next general election, on 28 June 1841, but had little opportunity of distinguishing himself as a parliamentary debater; for—having enjoyed a distinguished lead in the courts of equity for several years—on 28 Oct. following he was raised to the bench under the act for the better administration of justice (5 Vict. c. 5), which provided for the appointment of a second vice-chancellor. He was sworn a member of the judicial committee of the privy council on 15 Jan. 1842, and received the customary order of knighthood the same month. Wigram, whose decrees were remarkable for the lucid exposition of the legal principles involved in the cases he had to adjudicate upon, was compelled by ill-health, resulting in the total loss of sight, to retire from the bench in Trinity vacation 1850, when he was granted a pension of 3,500l. a year. He died on 29 July 1866, leaving a family of four sons and five daughters. A crayon portrait by Sir George Richmond, R.A., is at Trinity College, Cambridge.



WIGRAM, JOSEPH COTTON (1798–1867), bishop of Rochester, born at Walthamstow on 26 Dec. 1798, was the fifteenth child of Sir Robert Wigram (1744–1830). Sir [q. v.] was his elder brother. Joseph Cotton was educated by private tutors, and proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. as sixth wrangler in 1820, M.A. in 1823, and D.D. in 1860. He was ordained deacon in 1822, and priest in the year following, and in 1827 was appointed assistant preacher at St. James's, Westminster. In the same year he was also chosen secretary of the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church, a post which he retained until 1839. On 28 March of that year he was appointed rector of East Tisted in Hampshire, and in 1850 removed to the rectory of St. Mary's, Southampton. On 16 Nov. 1847 he was collated archdeacon of Surrey, and in 1860 was consecrated bishop of Rochester in succession to George Murray [see under, (1761–1803)]. He died in London at 15A Grosvenor Square, on 6 April 1867, and was buried on 12 April beside his wife in the parish church of Latton, Essex. On 12 Feb. 1839 he married Susan Maria (d. 27 June 1864), daughter of Peter Arkwright of Willersley in Derbyshire. By her he had six sons and three daughters.

Besides sermons and pamphlets, Wigram was the author of:
 * 1) ‘Practical Elementary Arithmetic,’ London, 1832, 12mo.
 * 2) ‘Geography of the Holy Land,’ London, 1832,