William Ballantine

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William Ballantine (January 3, 1812 – January 9, 1887) was an English serjeant-at-law.

Born in London, he was the son of a police-magistrate. He was educated at St Paul's School, and called to the bar in 1834. He began in early life a varied acquaintance with dramatic and literary society, and his experience, combined with his own pushing character and acute intellect, helped to obtain for him very soon a large practice, particularly in criminal cases. He became known as a formidable cross-examiner, his great rival being Serjeant Parry (1816—1880).

The three great cases of his career were:

• his successful prosecution of the murderer Franz Muller in 1864,
• his skilful defence of the Tichborne claimant in 1871, and
• his defence of the Gaekwad (Gaekwar) Maharaja of Baroda in 1875, his fee in this last case being one of the largest ever known.

Ballantine became a serjeant-at-law in 1856.

He died at Margate on January 9, 1887, having previously published more than one volume of reminiscences. Serjeant Ballantine’s private life was decidedly Bohemian; and though he earned large sums, he died very poor.