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'''Sir William Henry Rattigan''', [[King's Counsel|KC]] (4 September 1842 – 4 July 1904)<ref>{{rayment-hc|l|1|date=March 2012}}</ref> was a British lawyer, judge, legal writer, and [[Liberal Unionist]] MP for [[North East Lanarkshire (UK Parliament constituency)|North East Lanarkshire]].

==Life and career==
Rattigan was born in [[Delhi]], India, in September 1842, the son of Bartholomew Rattigan, of Athy, Co. Kildare. He was educated at the High School, [[Agra]]. After a short period in the uncovenanted Bombay civil service, Rattigan resigned to pursue a legal career. He became a pleader of the Punjab chief court on its establishment in 1866 and built a large practice. He entered [[Lincoln's Inn]] in 1871, was called to the bar there in 1873, also studying at [[King's College London]]. He later received a doctorate ([[Legum Doctor|LL.D]]) from the [[University of Göttingen]].<ref name="TT27091901">{{Cite newspaper The Times|title=Election intelligence|date=27 September 1901|issue=36571|page 7|}}</ref>

Most of his legal career took place in India. He served as judge in the Chief Court of the Punjab on four occasions, was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in 1895, [[took silk]] in 1897 and practiced in the [[Allahabad High Court|High Court of the North Western Provinces]]. He was also an additional member of the supreme legislative council of India 1892–93, and member of the Punjab legislative council 1898–99.<ref name=TT27091901 />

In 1887 he was Vice-Chancellor of Punjab University, from which he later received an honorary doctorate (LL.D).<ref name=TT27091901 /> An honorary doctorate (LL.D) from the [[University of Glasgow]] followed in June 1901.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-glasgow-university-jubilee/131294008/ |date=14 June 1901 |title=Glasgow University Jubilee |page=10 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |publication-place=London |issue=36481 |access-date=2024-01-05 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

After moving back to the United Kingdom in 1900, Rattigan practiced before the Privy Council and contested the [[North East Lanarkshire (UK Parliament constituency)|North East Lanarkshire constituency]] in the [[1900 United Kingdom general election|general election 1900]], but lost to the incumbent, [[John Colville (Liberal politician)|John Colville]]. When the latter died the following year, Rattigan contested and won a by-election for the same constituency in September 1901,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27360 |date=1 October 1901 |page=6395 }}</ref> and held it until his death in London three years later.

Rattigan died in a motor accident on 4 July 1904.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19040705.2.74&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 |title=Member of Parliament Killed. |volume=XCVI |issue=35 |date=5 July 1904 |at=Page 7, column 7 |newspaper=[[San Francisco Call]] |access-date=18 December 2022 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]]}}</ref>

==Family==
Rattigan married, in 1878, Evelyn Higgins, daughter of Colonel A. Higgins, CIE.<ref name=TT27091901 /> His son [[Henry Adolphus Rattigan|Sir Henry Adolphus Rattigan]] later achieved note as the Chief Justice of the [[Lahore High Court]], while his youngest son [[Cyril Rattigan|Cyril Stanley Rattigan]] played first-class cricket and was killed in action during the [[First World War]].<ref>{{cite book|last=McCrery|first=Nigel|title=Final Wicket: Test and First Class Cricketers Killed in the Great War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mphCgAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=[[Pen and Sword]]|isbn=978-1473864191|pages=286–7}}</ref>

==Publications==
*''The Roman Law of Persons'', 1873
*''The Science of Jurisprudence'', 1892
*''Private International Law'', 1895
*''Digest of Customary Law for Punjab'', 1895

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

* https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-35680

== References ==
*{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Rattigan, William Henry|year=1920}} This source mistakenly gives his date of death as 1905.

== External links ==
* {{Hansard-contribs | sir-william-rattigan | William Henry Rattigan }}
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Rattigan, William Henry|short=x}}
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef | before = [[John Colville (Liberal politician)|John Colville]] }}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[North East Lanarkshire (UK Parliament constituency)|North East Lanarkshire]]
| years = [[1901 North East Lanarkshire by-election|1901]]–[[1904 North East Lanarkshire by-election|1904]]
}}
{{s-aft | after = [[Alexander Findlay (politician)|Alexander Findlay]] }}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Vice-Chancellors of University of the Punjab}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rattigan, William Henry}}
[[Category:1842 births]]
[[Category:1904 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College London]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1900–1906]]
[[Category:Liberal Unionist Party MPs for Scottish constituencies]]
[[Category:Vice-chancellors of the University of the Punjab]]
[[Category:British King's Counsel]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Members of Lincoln's Inn]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Administrators in British India]]
[[Category:British legal writers]]
[[Category:Members of the Imperial Legislative Council of India]]
[[Category:People from Delhi]]
[[Category:University of Göttingen alumni]]

{{Scotland-UK-MP-stub}}

William Rattigan - Revision history

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