Thomas Sidgreaves
British judge (1831–1889)
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Sir Thomas Sidgreaves (25 October 1831[1] – 23 December 1889) was a British colonial judge who was Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements from 1871 to 1886.[2][3]
Sidgreaves was born in Preston, Lancashire into a Catholic family, the second son of George Sidgreaves.[4] He was educated at Stonyhurst College and the University of London, earning a B.A. in 1853. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1857.[5]
He was knighted in 1874 for service in British India.[2]
He married Barbara Young,[1] with whom he had six children, including Sir Arthur Sidgreaves, head of Rolls-Royce.[6]
He died by suicide in Great Malvern, shooting himself in the chest in his garden. He had been suffering from depression because of recent financial losses, though he was entitled to a yearly pension of £1,200 (equivalent to £133,000 in 2025). A jury returned a verdict of "suicide while of unsound mind" in the case. He was 60 years old.[7]