John Samuel Martin Fonblanque

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John Samuel Martin Fonblanque (March 1787 – 3 November 1865) was an English legal writer and Commissioner of Bankruptcy.

Biography

Early life

The eldest son of barrister

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, aged 17, on 28 August 1804.[1]
He was on the list of scholars from Michaelmas 1804 to Lady Day 1809, and was third in the classical and mathematical examinations, 1805.

Fonblanque was one of the founders of the

Cambridge Union Society.[citation needed
]

War service

In 1810 Fonblanque left Cambridge due to ill-health, a burst blood-vessel on the lungs, and entered the Army obtaining a commission in the

deputy judge advocate-general. In the American War (of 1812) he was present at the taking of Washington, at the Battle of Baltimore, and ultimately at the fatal repulse at New Orleans when he was made prisoner within the enemy's lines being one of the very few who had succeeded in crossing the works. His last service was with the army of occupation in France
in 1815. He left Valenciennes in November 1816 and was almost immediately called to the bar.

The law and its reform

Fonblanque was

Lord Brougham
as a law reformer Fonblanque was appointed one of the original Commissioners of the newly instituted Court of Bankruptcy.

With John Paris he wrote Medical Jurisprudence published in 1823. It was awarded the first Swiney Prize for works on jurisprudence; and it remained the only guide on the subject for many years.

He was one of the founders of The Jurist in 1826. A quarterly journal of jurisprudence and legislation The Jurist was the first periodical which systematically advocated the amendment of the law. This was considered a bold step.

Fonblanque married Caroline O'Connell, daughter of John O'Connell of Cork. They had at least two sons and a daughter. He died at Brighton on 3 November 1865.

Publications

  • Treatise on Medical Jurisprudence with Dr John Ayrton Paris, 1823
  • Observations on a bill now before Parliament, 1824
  • Contributions to the quarterly journal The Jurist 1826-

References

  1. ^ "Fonblanque, John Samuel Martin (FNBK804JS)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  • J. Venn, Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College (Cambridge, 1898).
  • Francis Watt, Fonblanque, John Samuel Martin de Grenier (1787–1865), rev. Jonathan Harris, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
  • Joseph Foster, Men-at-the-bar: a biographical hand-list of the members of the various Inns of court: including Her Majesty's judges, etc., Reeves & Turner, London 1885
  • Obituary, The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Review, Volume 219. December 1865
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