James Biddle (193)

James Biddle (18 February 1731/32–14 June 1797) was a lawyer and a public officeholder, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born in Philadelphia, his early education was put to good use when he began to study law under James Ross. By 1752 he began his own legal practice in Reading and soon expanded to neighboring counties. Biddle’s success was critical for his family’s maintenance but also (after the death and financial ruin of his father in 1756) his mother and his younger siblings. Biddle moved back to Philadelphia in 1760 or 1761 where his successful legal career paved the way for appointed city offices including deputy registrar of the Court of Vice-Admiralty and deputy prothonotary of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas (under APS member James Hamilton). As a member of the Proprietary party, he gave a spirited election address, To the Freeholders and Electors of the Province of Pennsylvania, that garnered significant attention at a public meeting in 1765. In it, he attacked Benjamin Franklin (in absentia) for not opposing the Stamp Act and supporting other direct taxes while friends of Franklin roundly dismissed the words of this “pitifull & low Attorney.” During the revolution, Biddle served the region on the Committee of Safety of the Province as well as a captain in the Third Battalion of Pennsylvania Associators. Following the war, he was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Philadelphia county from 1788 until his sudden death in 1797. Aside from practicing law, he made time for other local institutions such as becoming a member of the Union Library Company and subscribing to the Silk Society. (PI)