Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Compton, Herbert Abingdon Draper

1321237Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 11 — Compton, Herbert Abingdon Draper1887John Andrew Hamilton

COMPTON, Sir HERBERT ABINGDON DRAPER (1770–1846), judge, was the son of Walter Abingdon Compton of Gloucestershire. Early in life he entered the army and served with his regiment in India, but returning to England he spent some time in writing for the newspapers, especially for the 'Pilot,' and in studying law; and having been called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn on 22 Nov. 1808, he went to India and joined the bar at Fort St. George. There he was successively appointed to the posts of advocate-general at Madras, and afterwards at Calcutta, and in 1831 of chief justice of Bombay, on which occasion he was knighted by letters patent. Having won the goodwill of all parties, and received many testimonials from natives as well as English, he returned to England and died at his house in Hyde Park Gardens on 14 Jan. 1846. He was twice married: first in 1798 to a daughter of Dr. Canne, a surgeon in the East India Company's service at Madras, and afterwards to a daughter of Mr. Edward Mullins of Calcutta.

[Gent. Mag. new ser. xxv. 207; Ann. Reg. 1846.]

J. A. H.