William Kilty

William Kilty (1757 – October 10, 1821) was a Revolutionary War veteran and Maryland lawyer who became the Chief United States circuit judge of the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia (1801-1806) and then the 3rd Chancellor of Maryland (1806-1821). During his service in the latter office, he wrote an influential summary of the British Statutes still in force in Maryland, and served on a committee established to address a British blockade of American vessels. Education and military career Born in 1757, in London, England, Kilty emigrated to the Maryland colony with at least his Scottish-born father John Kilty (1730-1785) and brother John Kilty Jr. (1751-1811). William Kilty studied medicine under Edward Johnson of Annapolis. During the American Revolutionary War, Kilty served in the 5th Maryland Regiment as a Surgeon's Mate from April 1778 to April 1780, when he was promoted to the regimental Surgeon. His elder brother John Kilty was Captain of Dragoons in the Maryland Line of the Continental Army (and later Brigadier General of the Maryland militia). Taken prisoner at the Battle of Camden, Kilty returned to Annapolis in the spring of 1781. He served until 1783 and was admitted as an original member of The Society of the Cincinnati in the state of Maryland when it was established near the end of that year. Kilty sailed to France where he received a degree from the College of St. Omer, then returned to Maryland and read law.