WIGRAM, James (1793-1866), of 68 Portland Place, Westminster, Middlesex; and 3 Stone Buildings, Lincoln’s Inn, City of London.

A Conservative barrister, Wigram’s parliamentary career was terminated by his judicial appointment three months after his election. His father, Sir Robert Wigram, 1st baronet, was a wealthy East India merchant who had represented Fowey and Wexford in the unreformed Parliament.1W.A. Wigram, Register of the Wigram family, 1743-1913 (1913). Sir Robert was a great patron of Unitarianism, and James Wigram has been listed as a possible Unitarian MP, although no confirmation has been found.2D. Bebbington, ‘Unitarian Members of Parliament in the nineteenth century: a catalogue’, supplement to Transactions of Unitarian Historical Society, 24 (2009, unpag.).

In 1818 Wigram married into the Arkwright family, of Willersley Castle, Derbyshire. After 1832, their cousins, the Arkwrights, of Hampton Court, Herefordshire, exercised increasing influence in the borough of Leominster and this connection prompted Wigram to offer at the 1837 general election. During the campaign he promised to support an alteration in the new poor law to prevent the separation of families in the workhouse.3Hereford Journal, 26 July 1837. He withdrew from the poll to avoid jeopardising the election of the Conservative incumbent, but otherwise would have almost certainly been returned.

When he stood again for Leominster at the 1841 general election Wigram was returned without opposition, after deriding the Whig government’s reliance on the ‘petticoat influence’ and Irish and Radical support to stay in office.4Hereford Times, 3 July 1841. In response to Charles Dod’s enquiries, Wigram defined his opinions as ‘Conservative’.5Dod MS, iii. 1131. He was in the majority that voted Melbourne’s government out of office, 27 Aug. 1841, but otherwise made no mark in Parliament before he was appointed as a high court judge, taking the newly crafted additional post of vice-chancellor of the court of Chancery under the terms of the Court of Chancery Act (4 & 5 Vict., c. 5) passed on 21 June 1841. His place at Leominster was taken by his brother-in-law George Arkwright. Peel’s choice was probably based on Wigram’s legal talents, for the premier had long been dismissive of the attempts of his elder half-brother, Sir Robert Wigram (later Fitzwygram), 2nd baronet, to lobby for place and position on behalf of himself and his family.6HP Commons, 1820-1832, vii. 753-4.

In his new capacity as a vice-chancellor, Wigram gave evidence to the 1842 parliamentary inquiry. He recommended that the law courts should be moved from Westminster to Lincoln’s Inn fields to be nearer to the bar; alternatively, a library and accommodation could be provided for legal counsel at Westminster.7PP 1842 (476), x. 106-9. Wigram’s deteriorating eyesight compelled his retirement in 1850, with an annual pension of £3,500.8Gent. Mag. (1866), ii. 418.

On his death in 1866 Wigram left a personal estate of £70,000 and was succeeded by his eldest son James Richard (1819-92), a captain in the Coldstream guards.9Burke’s peerage (1949), 2130; National Probate Calendar: 7 Sept. 1866. Wigram’s half-brother, Sir Robert, 2nd baronet, represented Fowey, Lostwithiel and Wexford in the unreformed Commons, and his brother Loftus Tottenham Wigram (1806-89), was Conservative MP for Cambridge University, 1850-9.10HP Commons, 1820-1832, vii. 753-4.