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{{Short description|English colonial judge (1806–1888)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Sir Christopher Rawlinson
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| order1 = [[Chief Justice]] of the [[Madras High Court]]
| term_start1 = 1850
| term_end1 = 1859
| predecessor1 = Sir [[Edward John Gambier]]
| successor1 = Sir [[Henry Davison (judge)|Henry Davison]]
| birth_date = 10 July 1806
| birth_place = [[Combe, Berkshire|Combe, Hampshire]], England
| death_date = 28 March 1888 (aged 81)
| death_place = [[Eaton Square]], London, England
| children =
| alma_mater =
| occupation = [[lawyer]], [[judge]]
| profession = [[Chief Justice]]
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}

'''Sir Christopher Rawlinson''' (10 July 1806 – 28 March 1888) was an English colonial judge who was [[Chief Justice of Madras]] and the first vice-chancellor of the [[University of Madras]].

Rawlinson was born at [[Combe, Berkshire|Combe, Hampshire]], the second son of police magistrate John Rawlinson (1777/8–1847) of New Place, [[Old Alresford|Alresford]], and of Clatford and Combe, Hampshire, by his wife Felicia, daughter of Thomas Watson, of Haydon Hall, Middlesex.<ref name="auto">A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland for 1850, vol. II, John B. Burke, Henry Colburn, 1850, p. 1101</ref> He was educated at the [[Charterhouse School|Charterhouse]] and at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] (B.A. 1828, M.A. 1831). [[Call to the bar|Called to the bar]] at the [[Middle Temple]] (as his father had been) in 1831, he joined the western circuit in 1832, and was recorder of [[Portsmouth]] from 1840 to 1847, when he was appointed [[List of Recorders of Penang, Singapore and Malacca|recorder of Prince of Wales Island, Singapore, and Malacca]]. In 1847 he was knighted.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-23189|title=Rawlinson, Sir Christopher (1806–1888), judge in India|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/23189|last1=Wheeler|first1=Stephen|editor1-first=Roger T|editor1-last=Stearn}}</ref>

In 1849 he was appointed [[Madras High Court|Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Madras]], and held that position till his retirement in 1859. In his charge to the [[grand jury]] on 5 January 1859 he expressed the belief that great benefits would accrue from the recent transfer of the government of India from the [[East India Company]] to the [[The Crown|Crown]], and refuted the assertion then commonly made by English officials in India, that no materials for self-government existed in the country. On 9 February 1859 he was presented with a farewell address by the native community of Madras at an entertainment at which the governor, [[Lord Harris]], was present.

In 1842 he published a work on "The Municipal Practices Act".

He died at 33 [[Eaton Square]], London, on 28 March 1888. On 27 May 1847 he had married Georgina Maria, younger daughter of Alexander Radclyffe Sidebottom, [[barrister]], by whom he had three sons—Christopher (b. 1850), Albemarle Alexander, late major [[8th Hussars]], [[John Frederick Peel Rawlinson|John Frederick Peel]]—and one daughter. His nephew by marriage was [[William Melmoth Walters]], whose daughter Gertrude married Rawlinson's nephew<ref>Men-at-the-Bar- a biographical hand-list of the members of the various Inns of Court, second edition, Joseph Foster, Hazell, Watson & Viney Ltd, 1885, p. 386</ref> Thomas Arthur Rawlinson and was mother of the screenwriter and film producer [[A. R. Rawlinson]].<ref>Who was Who in the Theatre, 1912–1976, vol. 4 Q-Z, Gale Research Co., 1978, p. 1989</ref><ref>The Law Times, vol. 96, 1894, p. 46</ref><ref name="auto"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{DNB|wstitle=Rawlinson, Christopher (1806-1888)|first=Stephen Edward|last=Wheeler|volume=47|page=327}}
*{{Cite ODNB|title=Rawlinson, Sir Christopher (1806–1888)|first=Stephen|last=Wheeler|first2=Roger T.|last2=Stearn|id=23189}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawlinson, Christopher}}
[[Category:Members of the Middle Temple]]
[[Category:1806 births]]
[[Category:1888 deaths]]
[[Category:Vice chancellors of the University of Madras]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Chief justices of the Madras High Court]]
[[Category:People educated at Charterhouse School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British India judges]]

Christopher Rawlinson (judge) - Revision history

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