Henry Gwillim

Sir Henry Gwillim ( – 12 September 1837, Staplefield, Sussex) was a British lawyer and judge who served as a puisne judge in the Supreme Court of Madras (now Chennai) from 1801-1808.

Early life and career in England Born in 1759 in Hereford to a family of Welsh origins, Henry was the eldest son of John Gwillim, a respected surgeon and apothecary who also served as Mayor and Alderman of the City. Gwillim attended Christ Church, Oxford, and graduated in 1779. In 1780, he was admitted to Middle Temple, one of the four Inns of Court, to study law. He was called to the Bar in 1787. During this period, he and Elizabeth Symonds were married at St Bride’s Church, London in 1784. Elizabeth was also from Hereford. The couple were to have a daughter, who died before her first birthday. Two further children were born in the following few years. However, neither made it past early childhood. During this time, he was elected as a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce (now the Royal Society of Arts). A charge delivered to the grand jury, at the Assizes holden at Ely, on Wednesday the 27th day of March 1799. By Henry Gwillim, Esq. chief justice of the Isle of Ely. Published at the request of the magistrates and grand jury. (1799). A collection of acts and records of Parliament, with reports of cases, argued and determined in the courts of law and equity, respecting tithes. In Four Volumes. (1801).

Appointment to India In 1801, Gwillim was appointed puisne judge to the newly created Supreme Court of Madras, which had been created by charter of George III the previous year. Along with Gwillim, Sir Benjamin Sullivan was also appointed as a puisne judge, while Sir Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange was appointed as Chief Justice. In February 1801, Gwillim, along with his wife Elizabeth and her sister Mary Symonds, boarded the Hindostan and departed for India. In June of that year, Gwillim officially received his knighthood, no doubt postponed due to the King’s illness. The EIC had been the British government’s representative since 1600, and throughout the following centuries, the Company acquired control of large territories and the right to levy taxes in the region. Throughout the late eighteenth century, the British government attempted to tighten its control over the EIC territories, and this included directly appointing judges to dispense English law. For the citizens of Madras, this court was distinct from the "colonial executive power."

Amid these growing tensions, Gwillim presided over Madras as a judge. With Sullivan often in poor health, and Strange ill or away, Gwillim became, according to his wife, the "backbone of the court."

The growing tensions came to a head in 1807. Following the Vellore Rising, Lord Bentinck planned to establish a new, local police force under military command in Madras to maintain the EIC’s control. This police force was to have wide powers of arrest, with no obligation to bring those arrested before the Supreme Court.

On 21 January 1807, Gwillim spoke in front of a Grand Jury of Europeans, insulting both Bentinck and the new police force. The next month, Gwillim challenged the legality of the arrest of an Indian man by the military police. Gwillim criticized the fact that the force was led by a military officer, Walter Grant. He argued that Madras was effectively "living under a military power". The Grand Jury agreed, declaring that a military force "cannot legally be employed" for this purpose. Furious, Lord Bentinck would argue that the sentiment was applicable to Great Britain, but not Madras. Grant was later to resign and be replaced by Captain James Grant. Walter Grant complained that Gwillim’s criticism of him was detrimental to the EIC’s control of the city. without presenting it before the government censor. In it, he complained of Captain James Grant and declared that the present system of law enforcement was placing the city’s liberties "at the feet of a military despot."

For lawyers such as Gwillim, however, these ideas were not radical. He simply believed that Indians coming within the jurisdiction of the court were entitled to habeas corpus under English law. Otherwise, it amounted to despotism. This belief was problematic for the EIC who thought that judicial affairs in India should always be in a "state of emergency" — that is, people could be detained without due process— in defence of state security.

Due to these events, the EIC argued that Gwillim was dangerous to the "public safety" of the city, and they began to lobby for his removal as judge. Both Strange and Bentinck proceeded to submit formal complaints against Gwillim to the Crown in London. Bentinck, with the support of Strange, also began to scheme to remove the Supreme Court and replace it with provincial courts, headed by one Crown-appointed judge and two EIC-appointed judges.

In September, however, Lord Bentinck was removed from his post as Governor of Madras, due to his failure to prevent the Vellore Rising. Nevertheless, it was too late for Gwillim as the complaints against him had already been sent. In October 1807, an Order in Council was issued that Gwillim should return to London for investigation. An official recall was issued the next month. He acknowledged receipt of the order in June 1808. The following week, he would receive another address from a group composed entirely of Indians, with 240 signatories, thanking him for his impartiality. He would receive a third delegation with 400 signatories on the day of his departure.

In October 1808, Gwillim and his sister-in-law, Mary Symonds, boarded the Phoenix and set sail for England, arriving in May 1809. His wife, Elizabeth, had died the previous December. Once in England, his case was reviewed by the Crown, and, on 11 April 1810, the Privy Council announced that Gwillim would not return to his seat in Madras, although an allowance would be granted to him.

Later life Following these events, Gwillim settled in Staplefield, near Cuckfield, Sussex at Staplefield Place. He continued to work as a judge at the Sussex Assizes, while also drawing from his pension from India of £100 a year. In 1812, he married Elizabeth Chilman of Clerkenwell St. James, a woman thirty years his junior. They had one daughter together. Henry continued to work as a local judge for the next two decades.

On 12 September 1837, Gwillim died aged 79 in Staplefield, Sussex.