View source for Joseph William Chitty

{{short description|English cricketer, rower, and judge}}
{{for|the English lawyer and legal writer, (1775–1841)|Joseph Chitty}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder|image=File:Joseph William Chitty.jpg|honorific_prefix=[[The Right Honourable]]|name=Sir Joseph Chitty|alma_mater=[[Balliol College, Oxford]]|office=[[Lord Justice of Appeal]]|office1=[[High Court judge (England and Wales)|Justice of the High Court]]|office2=[[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br/>for [[Oxford (UK Parliament constituency)|Oxford]]|birth_date={{birth date|1828|5|28|df=yes}}|death_date={{death date and age|1899|2|15|1828|5|28|df=yes}}|termstart=9 January 1897|termend=15 February 1899|termstart1=6 September 1881|termend1=9 January 1897|termstart2=1880|termend2=1881}}
[[Image:SirJosephWilliamChitty.jpg|thumb|Sir Joseph William Chitty]]
[[File:Chitty JW Vanity Fair 1885-03-28.jpg|right|thumb|{{center|"The Umpire"<br>Justice Chitty as caricatured by Spy ([[Leslie Ward]]) in [[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]], March 1885}}]]

'''Sir Joseph William Chitty''' (28 May 1828 – 15 February 1899) was an English [[cricket]]er, [[rowing (sport)|rower]], judge and [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] politician.

==Early life==
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2022}}
Chitty was born in London, the second son of [[Thomas Chitty (lawyer)|Thomas Chitty]] (himself son and brother of well-known lawyers), a celebrated [[special pleader]] and writer of legal textbooks, under whose teaching many distinguished lawyers began their legal education. Joseph Chitty was educated at [[Eton College]] and [[Balliol College, Oxford]], gaining a first-class in [[Literae Humaniores]] in 1851, and being afterwards elected to a fellowship at [[Exeter College, Oxford|Exeter College]].

==Sporting distinctions==
Chitty was an all round sportsman with distinctions during his school and college career in athletics. He was a [[cricket]] wicket-keeper and played in the [[Eton v Harrow]] match in four years, captaining Eton in 1847. He also kept wicket for [[Marylebone Cricket Club]] (MCC) in 1846 and 1847. He played for [[Oxford University Cricket Club|Oxford University]] in 1848 and 1849, partaking in [[The University Match (cricket)|the Varsity match]] each year. Oxford won in 1848, but lost in 1849. In cricket, he played 12 innings in 7 first-class matches with an average of 15.66 and a top score of 20. He took 6 catches and stumped three times.<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/36/36547/36547.html Joseph Chitty at Cricket Archive]. Cricketarchive.com. Retrieved on 9 July 2012.</ref>

Chitty rowed in the [[Oxford University Boat Club|Oxford University]] crew in both the [[Boat Race]]s that were run in 1849, the [[The Boat Race 1849 (March)|March race]] and the [[The Boat Race 1849 (December)|December race]], each university winning once. He rowed in the Oxford University [[eight (rowing)|eight]] that won the [[Grand Challenge Cup]] at [[Henley Royal Regatta]] in 1850 when there was no Boat Race on the [[Tideway]]. He also rowed in the Oxford [[coxed four]] that won the [[Stewards' Challenge Cup]] at Henley and in the same year he won the [[Silver Goblets]], the first year the [[coxless pair]] event was run under that name. His partner was [[James John Hornby]] and they beat [[Thomas Howard Fellows]] and C L Vaughan in the final.<ref>[http://www.rowinghistory.net/HRR%20US/hrr_1839-1939.htm Henley Royal Regatta Results of Final Races 1839–1939] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309113109/http://www.rowinghistory.net/HRR%20US/hrr_1839-1939.htm |date= 9 March 2012 }}. Rowinghistory.net. Retrieved on 9 July 2012.</ref>

He repeated his success in the Grand Challenge Cup, and in the Silver Goblets in 1851 partnering [[James Aitken (clergyman)|James Aitken]] in the latter to beat [[John Erskine Clarke]] and C L Vaughan in the final. In 1852, he [[stroke (rowing)|stroked]] the winning Oxford crew in the [[The Boat Race 1852|1852 Boat Race]]. In 1853 he was in the Oxford four that won Stewards again and was playing cricket for [[I Zingari]]. For many years Chitty umpired the Boat Race.<ref name="ODNB"/>

In 1873 Chitty responded to Dr J Morgan, who was investigating the health effects of rowing.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/universityoars00mdgoog/universityoars00mdgoog_djvu.txt John Ed. Morgan, M.D "University Oars" (1873)]. Archive.org. Retrieved 9 July 2012.</ref>

<blockquote>"In answer to your questions, I may state that during my residence at Oxford I rowed in the University Eight against Cambridge three times at Putney, and once at Henley. I also rowed in the University Four, and in Pair-Oar Races at Oxford, Henley and the Thames Regatta. My own personal experience extends over a period of about five years, during a great part of which I was rowing in races. I am not aware that I have in any way suffered in health, either from the training or the rowing; on the contrary, my belief is that I derived from them great benefit physically."</blockquote>

==Legal and political career==
{{More citations needed|section|date=December 2022}}
[[File:Sir Joseph William Chitty Achievement.png|thumb|left|Arms, displayed at Lincoln's Inn<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/baz_manning/12495947763/in/album-72157640915835384/ |title=Chitty JW |publisher=Baz Manning |access-date=30 January 2021}}</ref>]]
Chitty entered [[Lincoln's Inn]] in 1851, was called to the bar in 1856, and made a [[Queen's Counsel]] in 1874, electing to practise as such in the court of [[George Jessel (jurist)|Sir George Jessel]], [[Master of the Rolls]].

In 1880, he entered the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] as member for [[Oxford (UK Parliament constituency)|the city of Oxford]]. His parliamentary career was short, for in 1881 the [[Judicature Acts|Judicature Act]] required that the Master of the Rolls should cease to sit regularly as a judge of first instance, and Chitty was selected to fill the vacancy thus created in the [[Chancery Division]].

Sir Joseph Chitty was for sixteen years a popular judge, in the best meaning of the phrase, being noted for his courtesy, geniality, patience and scrupulous fairness, as well as for his legal attainments, and being much respected and liked by those practising before him, in spite of a habit of interrupting counsel, possibly acquired through the example of Sir George Jessel.

In 1897, upon the retirement of Sir [[Edward Ebenezer Kay|Edward Kay]], L.J., he was promoted to the [[Court of Appeal of England and Wales|Court of Appeal]]. There he added to his reputation as a lawyer and a judge, proving that he possessed considerable knowledge of the common law as well as of [[Equity (law)|equity]].

== Personal life ==
In 1858, he married Clara Jessie, daughter of Chief [[Charles Edward Pollock|Baron Pollock]], leaving children who could claim descent from two of the best-known English legal families of the 19th century.<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|title=Chitty, Sir Joseph William (1828–1899), judge|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-5337|access-date=27 September 2020|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/5337}}</ref>

Grandchildren included [[Letitia Chitty]] (1897 – 1982) a structural analytical engineer who became the first female fellow of the [[Royal Aeronautical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chitty, Letitia (1897–1982), mathematician and civil engineer|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-70068|access-date=27 September 2020|website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year=2018|language=en|doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.70068|last1=Barrett|first1=Anne|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref>

==Cases==
*''[[Sumpter v Hedges]]''
*''[[Cann v Willson]]'' (1888) 39 Ch D 39

==See also==
*[[List of Oxford University Boat Race crews]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{Commons category}}
*{{Rayment|date=February 2012}}
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Chitty, Sir Joseph William|volume=6|page=252}}
*[[Wikibooks:The Rowers of Vanity Fair/Chitty JW|The Rowers of Vanity Fair – J W Chitty]]

== External links ==
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-joseph-chitty | Joseph William Chitty }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef
 | before  = [[Alexander William Hall]]
 | before2 = Sir [[William Vernon Harcourt (politician)|William Vernon Harcourt]]
}}
{{s-ttl
 | title  = Member of Parliament for [[Oxford (UK Parliament constituency)|Oxford]]
 | years  = [[1880 United Kingdom general election|1880]]–1881
 | with   = Sir [[William Vernon Harcourt (politician)|William Vernon Harcourt]], to May 1880
 | with2  = [[Alexander William Hall]], from May 1880
}}
{{s-vac
 | reason = Constituency suspended
 | next   = [[Alexander William Hall]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitty, Joseph}}
[[Category:1828 births]]
[[Category:1899 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Lord justices of appeal]]
[[Category:Chancery Division judges]]
[[Category:Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:English cricketers]]
[[Category:Oxford University cricketers]]
[[Category:English male rowers]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1880–1885]]
[[Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers]]
[[Category:Gentlemen of England cricketers]]
[[Category:Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Chitty family]]