John Iles Mantell

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Sir John Iles Mantell (1 December 1813 – 12 July 1893) was a British judge who served in both the Gambia and in Lancashire.

Mantell was the eldest son of George Mantell of Faringdon, Berkshire, a medical doctor. Born on 1 December 1813, Mantell was educated at Radley College and was a student at Middle Temple from 1 November 1841.^[1][2]

Mantell was a Queen's Advocate in the Gambia from 1841 to 1847, before being called to the bar on 18 June 1847. He then became chief justice and judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court of the Gambia, serving from 1847 to 1866. He was knighted on 9 August 1867, and became a stipendiary magistrate for Manchester in 1869. He served until 1885. He also served as a Justice of the Peace for Lancashire.^[1][2]

Mantell married Susan Finch in 1838 at St Martins in the Fields, and they had one daughter in 1850, Laura. It has been suggested that Susan died in The Gambia.^[2] Mantell re-married to Elinor Knight in January 1867, the daughter of Charles Hitchcock, a medical doctor from Devizes, Wiltshire.^[1]