William Kilty

William Kilty (1757 – October 10, 1821) was an American lawyer who was the Chief Judge of the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia from 1801 to 1806 and the 3rd Chancellor of Maryland from 1806 to 1821. He served as a surgeon during the American Revolutionary War. As Chancellor of Maryland, he wrote an influential summary of the British Statutes still in force in Maryland, and served on a committee established to address a British blockade of American vessels.

Education and military career

Born in 1757, in London, England, Kilty emigrated to the Maryland colony with at least his Scottish-born father John Kilty (1730-1785) and brother John Kilty Jr. (1751-1811). He studied medicine under Edward Johnson of Annapolis.

During the American Revolutionary War, Kilty served in the 5th Maryland Regiment as a surgeon's mate from April 1778 to April 1780, when he was promoted to the regimental surgeon. His elder brother John Kilty was Captain of Dragoons in the Maryland Line of the Continental Army (and later Brigadier General of the Maryland militia). Taken prisoner at the Battle of Camden, Kilty returned to Annapolis in the spring of 1781. Kilty sailed to France where he received a degree from the College of St. Omer, then returned to Maryland and read law. He was appointed compiler of the laws of Maryland from 1798 to 1800. In 1790, Kilty lived with her and a slave in Prince George's County, Maryland. In the 1810 federal census, Chancellor Kilty's Annapolis household included three slaves. The following year his brother died, and that widow petitioned to receive his Revolutionary War pension.

Death and legacy

Kilty died in Annapolis, Maryland, on October 10, 1821, and, like his brother Capt. John Kilty, is buried at historic St. Anne's Church there. John Johnson Sr. succeeded him as Chancellor.