Walter M. Digges

Walter Mitchell Digges (February 17, 1877 – October 5, 1934) was an American lawyer, judge, and delegate in the Maryland General Assembly in Maryland, United States. He was a member of the Democratic Party, and served as a Justice of the state's high court, the Maryland Court of Appeals from 1923 to 1934.

Biography

Digges was part of a prominent Maryland family.{{cite news|last=Bruske |first=Ed |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1990/01/24/hard-driving-md-lawyer-drives-himself-into-disgrace/bf8c88de-d1b3-4d4f-94b5-5334b9efab5f/ |title=Hard-Driving Md. Lawyer Drives Himself Into Disgrace |work=The Washington Post |date=1990-01-24 |access-date=2018-03-06}} He was born on February 17, 1877, in Charles County, Maryland, to Dr. John T. Digges and his wife Catherine, née Mitchell. He studied at Charlotte Hall Military Academy, Maryland Agricultural College (a predecessor of the University of Maryland), and Maryland Law School, from which he graduated in 1902. He was admitted to the Maryland bar the same year.{{cite journal |title=Walter Mitchell Digges |journal=Report of the Fortieth Annual Meeting of the Maryland State Bar Association |url=http://mdlaw.cloudapp.net/awweb/main.jsp?flag=browse&smd=2&awdid=1 |publisher=Maryland State Bar Association |year=1935 |pages=28–29}}

Digges, a Democrat, beat Republican Sydney Mudd II in a close race to become a member of the Maryland House of Delegates{{cite book |title=The Johns Hopkins University Studies In Historical And Political Science |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FXknAQAAIAAJ |first1=Herbert Baxter |last1=Adams |first2=John Martin |last2=Vincent |year=1969 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |author-link1=Herbert Baxter Adams |pages=131–132}} and served from 1910 until 1912.{{cite web |title=Archives of Maryland: Historical List: House of Delegates, Charles County (1790-1974) |url=http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/speccol/sc2600/sc2685/house/html/chhouse.html |publisher=Maryland State Archives |access-date=2018-03-07}} In 1910, he tried to pass the Digges Amendment, which would have barred African Americans from voting.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ct02DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA339 |title=Baltimore: A Political History |first=Matthew A. |last=Crenson |publisher=JHU Press |page=339 |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-42142-206-0}} It was co-sponsored by William J. Frere, also from Charles County, in the Maryland Senate.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TailCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA95 |title=Life in a Black Community: Striving for Equal Citizenship in Annapolis, Maryland, 1902-1952 |first=Hannah |last=Jopling |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-73918-346-5 |page=95}}

Digges had a law partnership with Walter Jenifer Mitchell until 1923, when Digges was appointed to the bench{{cite book |title=National Cyclopaedia of Biography |publisher=James T. White |volume=45 |page=548 |year=1962 |url=https://archive.org/stream/nationalcyclopae45newy#page/548/mode/2up/search/digges}} as a judge on the Maryland Court of Appeals.{{cite web |title=Maryland Court of Appeals Judges, 1778- |publisher=Maryland State Archives |url=http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/speccol/sc2600/sc2685/html/ctappj.html |access-date=2018-03-07}} By 1933 he was Chief Judge of the 7th Judicial Circuit Court.{{cite book |title=The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h5Uf7Xfo2ZoC |year=1933 |quote=Seventh Circuit: Prince George's, Charles, Calvert and St. Mary's Counties. W. Mitchell Digges, Chief Judge; William Meverell Loker and Joseph C. Mattingly, Associate Judges}}{{page needed|date=March 2018}} He was president of the Maryland State Bar Association at the time of his death.

Digges was for some time a Naval Officer of Customs for the Department of Customs at the Port of Baltimore.{{cite journal |title=Resolution on the Death of Judge W. Mitchell Digges |journal=Report of the Fortieth Annual Meeting of the Maryland State Bar Association |url=http://mdlaw.cloudapp.net/awweb/main.jsp?flag=browse&smd=2&awdid=1 |publisher=Maryland State Bar Association |year=1935 |page=39}}{{cite book |title=Official Register of the United States |year=1917 |publisher=US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census |page=50 |url=https://archive.org/stream/officialregister03united#page/50/mode/2up/search/digges}}

Personal life

Digges married Mary Natalie Jenkins and they had four children: Eleanor Jenkins Digges, John Dudley Digges, Walter Mitchell Digges Jr., and Edward Simms Digges.{{cite book |title=Thomas Jenkins of Maryland, 1670: his descendants and allied families |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tG5VAAAAMAAJ |year=1985 |first=Edward Felix |last=Jenkins |publisher=Museum and Library of Maryland history, Maryland Historical Society }}{{page needed|date=March 2018}} He died on October 5, 1934, at his home in La Plata and was buried in the town after a service at the Christ Episcopal Church on October 18.{{cite journal |title=Report of the Executive Committee |journal=Report of the Fortieth Annual Meeting of the Maryland State Bar Association |url=http://mdlaw.cloudapp.net/awweb/main.jsp?flag=browse&smd=2&awdid=1 |publisher=Maryland State Bar Association |year=1935 |pages=11–12}} His house, constructed for him in 1914-1915 and variously called "Chillum" and "Chilham", is of historic importance. Its name is derived from Chilham in England, from whence his ancestors came.{{cite web |url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Charles/CH-354.pdf |title=Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: Chillum |publisher=Maryland Historic Trust |access-date=2018-03-08}}

References

Category:1877 births

Category:1934 deaths

Category:People from La Plata, Maryland

Category:Charlotte Hall Military Academy alumni

Category:Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates

Category:University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law alumni

Category:20th-century Maryland state court judges

Category:American people of English descent

Category:20th-century members of the Maryland General Assembly