Ralph de Hengham

Sir Ralph de Hengham
A 17th-century engraving by Wenceslaus Hollar of Ralph de Hengham's monumental brass (no longer extant) at St Paul's Cathedral, London
12th Lord Chief Justice of England
In office 1274–1290
Monarch	Edward I
Chancellor	Walter de Merton Robert Burnell
Preceded by	Martin of Littlebury
Succeeded by	Gilbert de Thornton
18th Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
In office 1301–1309
Monarch	Edward I Edward II
Chancellor	John Langton William Greenfield William Hamilton Ralph Baldock
Preceded by	John of Mettingham
Succeeded by	Sir William Bereford
Personal details
Born	1235
Died	May 18, 1311(1311-05-18) (aged 75–76)
Resting place	Old St Paul's Cathedral, London 51°30′49″N 0°5′54″W / 51.51361°N 0.09833°W / 51.51361; -0.09833
Nationality	English

Sir Ralph de Hengham (1235 – 18 May 1311) was an English justice. His first employer was Giles of Erdington a justice of the Common Bench, whose service he entered as a clerk before 1255. By 1260 he had become a clerk for the King's Bench, and later passed into the service of Richard of Middleton, with whom he served on the Eyre circuit of Martin of Littlebury in 1262, and on the circuit led by Middleton himself in 1268–1269. In July 1229 Middleton became the Lord Chancellor, an event which, along with Hengham's own abilities, helped in his rapid rise. He was appointed as a junior justice to the Eyre circuit led by Roger of Seaton in 1271 while only in his mid-thirties, and in 1272 became senior justice to an Eyre circuit of his own. After the death of Henry III brought all Eyre circuits to a halt Hengham was appointed to a central court as a junior justice of the Common Bench starting in Hilary term 1273.

For the following year and a half Hengham also served as an assize judge with Walter de Heliun in the West Midlands. He left the Common Bench in 1274 after being promoted to Chief Justice of the King's Bench, a position he held until 1290. Hengham was one of the many justices dismissed and disgraced between 1289 and 1290, with his dismissal coming in Hilary term 1290 due to misconduct in only a single case, and there on what appears to be a technicality. He was forced to pay 10,000 Marks over the next five years for his release from prison and pardon, far more than any of the other disgraced justices. The fine was not a reflection on his crimes or his high standing, but rather on his ability to pay; Hengham is known to have held three Cathedral canonries at Hereford, Lichfield and St Paul's, as well as prebends in five collegiate churches and livings in ten counties. He received annual pensions from seven religious corporations, and had land holdings in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Kent, and Warwickshire. There is a story that the money went to pay for a London clock tower, which eventually became Big Ben, but there is no contemporary evidence for this.