Name William Burkitt | ||
Sir William Robert Burkitt (1838–16 June 1908) was a judge in British India in the 19th and early 20th centuries. He retired from active judiciary service in 1904 and rose to District Grandmaster of Bengal, presiding over the ancient craft of Freemasonry for over half of India's population in the Bengal Presidency.
From the Irish branch of the historic Burkitt family of judges, theologians and doctors, Sir William was educated at Trinity College Dublin, graduated to the Bengal Civil Service in 1869 and served various judiciary roles in the North Western Provinces, in locations such as Oudh, Allahabad, Delhi and Calcutta. As a High Court Judge he was appointed Puisne Judge and was made a Knight Bachelor in June 1904, attaining the role of Chief Justice of the United Provinces.
His most well-known achievement was, together with Lord Kitchener (then District Grandmaster of Punjab), to induct the Emir of Afghanistan Habibullah Khan at Freemasons Hall at Lodge Concordia in Park Street, Kolkata in 1907. This was performed in an unusual style, the Emir taking all three ordinary degrees of masonry at once - a rare event rumoured to signify membership of the Roshaniya.
Married first to Katheleen Dwyer (who was lost at sea ) and then to Frances Gill, he had a number of children with both wives. He died in at Norris's Hotel, 48-53 Russell Road, Kensington, London on 16 June 1908 once his health had declined after a life in the Gangetic climate. It was normal for luminaries of the British Raj to retire to London.
His son William John Dwyer Burkitt, also a judge, was tipped to follow in his father's footsteps but died young from pneumonia on 19 May 1918 in Nainital.