>Rsjaffe: /* Career */clean up, typo(s) fixed: 1862-1891 → 1862–1891

2021-06-22T20:07:50Z

Career: clean up, typo(s) fixed: 1862-1891 → 1862–1891

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'''Sir William Robert Burkitt''' (1838 – 16 June 1908) was an Irish judge in [[British India]] in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

== Education ==
From the Irish branch of a prominent family of judges, theologians, and doctors, Sir William was born in [[Dublin]]. He was educated at [[Trinity College Dublin]] and called to the bar at [[Middle Temple]].

He took the [[Indian Civil Service (British India)|Indian Civil Service]] exams in 1860 and graduated to the Bengal Civil Service in 1869.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_detail.php?id=16478|title=FIBIS Database - Powered by The Frontis Archive Publishing System|website=search.fibis.org}}</ref>

== Career ==
William Burkitt arrived in India 11 October 1861.

From October 1862, he served in the [[North Western Provinces]] as Assistant Magistrate and Collector, Joint Magistrate and Deputy Collector, District and Sessions Judge (August 1867) [[Gorakhpur]], [[Basti, Uttar Pradesh|Basti]], [[Banda, Uttar Pradesh|Banda]], [[Kanpur|Cawnpore (or Kanpur)]], [[Bareilly]], [[Muzaffarnagar]], [[Saharanpur]], [[Etawah]], [[Azamgarh]] & [[Mathura|Mutter (or Mathura)]] 1862–1891,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dspace.wbpublibnet.gov.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10689/12592/5/Note%20pages.pdf|title=Notes on Careers}}</ref> and a Judicial Commissioner in locations such as [[Oudh]] (1891), [[Allahabad]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allahabadhighcourt.in/Judges/ex-judge1866-1899.htm|title=Former Judges of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad and its Bench at Lucknow(1866-1899)|website=www.allahabadhighcourt.in}}</ref> [[Delhi]] and [[Calcutta]].

He served as a [[High Court]] Judge in Allahabad 1895-1908<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.allahabadhighcourt.in/Judges/ex-judge1866-1899.htm|title=High Court of Judicature at Allahabad}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.allahabadhighcourt.in/Judges/ex-judges/ex-judge1866-1899.htm|title=List of Retired/Resigned/Expired Hon'ble Judge Arranged According to Date of Appointment (Year 1866-1899)}}</ref> and was appointed [[Chief Justice of the United Provinces]] and [[Puisne Judge]](1895), the most senior judge in British India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3VQTAAAAYAAJ&q=Burkitt+Puisne&pg=PA452|title=The India List and India Office List|last1=India Office|first1=Great Britain|year=1819}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://abhilekh-patal.in/jspui/handle/123456789/1028400|title=National Archives of India - Appointment of Mr. Burkitt to be a Judge of the High Court, North-Western Provinces. Continuance of the appointment of the Fifth Puisne Judge of the Court for another year|date=March 1895}}</ref>

He was made a [[Knight Bachelor]] on 19 July 1904,<ref name="LG">{{London Gazette | issue=27698 | date=22 July 1904 | pages=4755 | supp= }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l4xUsPyL6koC&q=Burkitt+Puisne&pg=RA1-PA418|title=The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time ..., Volume 1|isbn=9780806304434|last1=Shaw|first1=William Arthur|year=1970}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://abhilekh-patal.in/jspui/handle/123456789/1277502|title=National Archives of India - Confermrnt of the honour of Knighthood upon (1) Dr. Gorroo Dass Bannerjee, lately a Puisne Judge of the High Court of Judicature at Fort William, Bengal. (2) Edward Townshend Candy, Esq., C.S.I., retired, lately a Puisne Judge of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay. (3) The Honble Mr. W.R. Burkitt, M.A., Barrister-at-Law, Puisne Judge of the High Court of Judicature for the North-Western Provinces. (4) The Honble Mr. D.P. Masson, C.I.E., V.D., Lieutenant-Colonel and Commandent of the 1st Punjab Volunteer Rifle Corps, Honorary A.D.C. to His Excellency the Viceroy, and Member of the Council of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab.}}</ref> the year of his retirement.

== District Grandmaster of Bengal ==
Burkitt was District Grand Mark Master<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://masonicperiodicals.org/static/media/periodicals/119-FVL-1898-08-27-001-SINGLE.pdf|title=The Freemason - Vol XXXVII No. 1538 p.399|date=1898-08-27}}</ref> of District Grand Mark Lodge, Bengal and then [[Grand Master (Masonic)|District Grandmaster]] of [[Bengal]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.kernowkid.com/uploads/2/9/1/2/29126801/the_emir_of_afghanistan_-_a_mason.pdf|title=The Emir of Afghanistan - A Mason}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://masonicperiodicals.org/static/media/periodicals/119-FVL-1898-08-27-001-SINGLE.pdf|title=A VETERAN PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER}}</ref> presiding over [[Freemasonry]] for over half of India's population in the [[Bengal Presidency]].

== Emir of Afghanistan ==
His most well-known achievement was, together with [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Lord Kitchener]] (then [[Grand Master (Masonic)|District Grandmaster]] of [[Punjab (British India)|Punjab]]), to induct the [[Emir of Afghanistan]] [[Habibullah Khan]] at [[Freemasons Hall (Kolkata)|Freemasons Hall]] at [[Lodge Concordia]] in [[Park Street, Kolkata]] in 1907.<ref name=":0" /> This lodge is the home of the [[United Grand Lodge of Bengal]] of which Burkitt was District Grandmaster.
[[File:Induction Emir Habibullah Khan Freemason.png|thumb|Induction of Emir Habibullah Khan IV of Afghanistan into Masonry on 1 Feb 1907, by William Robert Burkitt and others.]]

An account of this highly unusual event was written at the time by [[Henry McMahon|Sir Henry McMahon]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://home.golden.net/~djjcameron/16.1.pdf|title=The Newsletter of the Committee on Masonic Education Vol. 16 No. 1 - "THE AMIR 'TAKES THREE"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kernowkid.com/uploads/2/9/1/2/29126801/the_emir_of_afghanistan_-_a_mason.pdf|title=The Emir of Afghanistan (1872-1919) Freemason A Royal Occasion A Royal Masonic Occasion (An Account of the entry of H M Habibullah Khan Amir of Afghanistan into Freemasonry) By Sir Henry McMahon}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://freemasonrymatters.co.uk/latest-news-freemasonry/famous-freemasons-horatio-herbert-kitchener/|title=Horatio Herbert Kitchener}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/kitchener_h/kitchener_h.html|title=Horatio Herbert Kitchener}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/2008/10/amir-habibullah.html|title=Amir Habibullah Khan: Afghan Reformer and Freemason}}</ref> It was performed in an unusual style, the Emir taking all three ordinary degrees of masonry at once - a rare event rumoured to signify membership of the [[Roshaniya]].<ref>{{cite book |last = Daraul |first = Arkon |authorlink = Arkon Daraul |title = Secret Societies: A History |publisher = [[MJF Books]] |year = 1999 |isbn = 978-1-56731-291-1 |url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/secretsocieties00arko }}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Married first to Katheleen [[O'Dwyer (surname)|Dwyer]] (who was lost at sea <ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_detail.php?id=737893|title=FIBIS Database - Powered by The Frontis Archive Publishing System|website=search.fibis.org}}</ref>) and then to Frances Gill,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_detail.php?id=743806|title=FIBIS Database - Powered by The Frontis Archive Publishing System|website=search.fibis.org}}</ref> he had a number of children<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_detail.php?id=665126|title=FIBIS Database - Powered by The Frontis Archive Publishing System|website=search.fibis.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_detail.php?id=233913|title=FIBIS Database - Powered by The Frontis Archive Publishing System|website=search.fibis.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_detail.php?id=667279|title=FIBIS Database - Powered by The Frontis Archive Publishing System|website=search.fibis.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_detail.php?id=798802|title=FIBIS Database - Powered by The Frontis Archive Publishing System|website=search.fibis.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_detail.php?id=662089|title=FIBIS Database - Powered by The Frontis Archive Publishing System|website=search.fibis.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_detail.php?id=736783|title=FIBIS Database - Powered by The Frontis Archive Publishing System|website=search.fibis.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_detail.php?id=759358|title=FIBIS Database - Powered by The Frontis Archive Publishing System|website=search.fibis.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_detail.php?id=657968|title=FIBIS Database - Powered by The Frontis Archive Publishing System|website=search.fibis.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_detail.php?id=712481|title=FIBIS Database - Powered by The Frontis Archive Publishing System|website=search.fibis.org}}</ref> with both wives.

His son [[William John Dwyer Burkitt]], also a judge, was tipped to follow in his father's footsteps but died young from [[pneumonia]] on 19 May 1918 in [[Nainital]].

== Later life ==
He died in at [[Norris's Hotel]], 48-53 Russell Road, [[Kensington]], London<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/londonanditsenv14firgoog/londonanditsenv14firgoog_djvu.txt|title=London and its environs, including excursions to Brighton, the Isle of Wight, etc. Handbook for travellers}}</ref> on 16 June 1908 once his health had declined after a life in the Gangetic climate. It was normal for luminaries of the British Raj to retire to London.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* http://www.lodgeofcharity4105.org.uk/news.html
* http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080629/jsp/calcutta/story_9466827.jsp
* http://www.mightypeace.ca/AN_ACCOUNT_OF_THE_ENTRY_OF_H.pdf
* http://www.thedigitalfreemason.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=66
* http://www.kinggeorgelodge.com/downloads/education/tdf059-royal_masonic_occasion.pdf
* http://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/freemasonry_and_colonialism/
* http://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/19/mcmahon_habibullah_khan.jpg
* http://www.ilovekolkata.in/index.php/My-City/How-the-plot-thickened.html
* https://books.google.com/books?id=3VQTAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA452&vq=Burkitt&dq=Judge+Sir+WR+Burkitt&source=gbs_search_s&cad=0
* http://www.allahabadhighcourt.in/event/LawAndLaughterGyanendraKumar.pdf

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkitt, William}}
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:British India judges]]
[[Category:1838 births]]
[[Category:1908 deaths]]

William Burkitt (judge) - Revision history

>Rsjaffe: /* Career */clean up, typo(s) fixed: 1862-1891 → 1862–1891