Rothery was born in
London. His father was
William Rothery, chief of the office of the
King's Proctor in
Doctors' Commons. Henry was educated at
St. John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated
B.A. in 1840, as nineteenth
wrangler in the
mathematical tripos, and
M.A. in 1845. After leaving the university he entered Doctors' Commons, and from 1842 practised in the
ecclesiastical and
admiralty courts. On 26 November 1853 he was appointed
registrar of the admiralty court. Soon after, he became registrar of the
Privy Council in ecclesiastical and maritime cases. In 1860 he was made legal adviser to
HM Treasury in questions and proceedings arising out of the
slave trade. On account of his large experience gathered in the court of
Admiralty, in 1876 he was appointed commissioner to inquire into the causes and circumstances of
shipwrecks, and to conduct investigations into casualties at sea. He began his duties towards the close of 1876. His inquiries indicated many preventible causes of maritime losses. His judgments on fire at sea in coal-laden vessels, on certain methods of stowing grain, on
ship stability, and on overloading were especially valuable.
Tay bridge disaster He chaired the public inquiry into the
Tay Bridge disaster, when an express train was lost by the collapse of the bridge across the Tay estuary on the night of 28 December 1879. He was assisted by the Chief inspector of Railways,
William Yolland and
William Henry Barlow, President of the
Institution of Civil Engineers. The inquiry sat initially in
Dundee to hear eyewitness accounts of the accident, and then at
Westminster Hall in
London for
expert evidence. They produced their final report in June 1880, and concluded that the bridge was "badly designed, badly built and badly maintained". Although they all agreed on the root causes of the disaster, his fellow judges Yolland and Barlow produced their own final report which hesitated in placing the blame on the chief engineer,
Thomas Bouch. He himself died a few months after the inquiry reported in June 1880. The reports were made in a remarkably short time considering the wealth of evidence they had to consider. The remains were demolished and a new bridge built alongside the old with a double line of tracks. ==Personal life==