Henry Hawkins, 1st Baron Brampton, (14 September 1817 – 6 October 1907), known as Sir Henry Hawkins between 1876 and 1899, was an English judge. He served as a Judge of the High Court of Justice between 1876 and 1898. Background and education Born at Hitchin, Hertfordshire, Hawkins was the son of John Hawkins, a solicitor, and Susanna, daughter of Theed Pearse. Through his father he was early familiarised with legal principles. He was educated at Bedford School, and was called to the Bar, Middle Temple, in 1843. Legal career 1843–1876 Hawkins at once joined the old home circuit, and after enjoying a lucrative practice as a junior, became a barrister in 1858 and a Queen's Counsel in 1859. His name is identified with many of the famous trials of the reign of Queen Victoria. He was engaged in the Simon Bernard case, in that of Roupell v. Waite, and in the Overend-Gurney prosecutions. The two causes célèbres, however, in which Hawkins attained his highest legal distinction were the Tichborne trials and the great will case of Sugden v. Lord St. Leonards, relating to the lost will of Edward Sugden, 1st Baron St Leonards. In both of these he won. He had a lucrative business in references and arbitrations, and acted for the royal commissioners in the purchase of the site for the new law courts. Election petitions also formed another branch of his extensive practice. Judicial career 1876–1898 Hawkins was raised to the bench in 1876, and was assigned to the then exchequer division of the High Court of Justice, not as Baron of the Exchequer (an appellation which was being abolished by the Judicature Act), but with the title of Sir Henry Hawkins. His knowledge of the criminal law was extensive and intimate and he got a reputation as a hanging judge. Hawkins would be the judge at a large number of the most famous English criminal trials of his day. His first major case was the 1877 trial of Louis Staunton, his brother Patrick, and two others for the murder of Louis' wife Harriet and her baby by starvation. A question regarding whether he was too favourable to the prosecution's case (coupled with evidence of meningitis rather than starvation being the cause of death) led to a public campaign orchestrated by the novelist Charles Reade. The decision reduced the sentences of the three convicted defendants (for the