John Thomas Bigge (1780-1843) was an English colonial judge and royal commissioner whose reports on the status of New South Wales and Tasmania stimulated reforms that led to the erosion of the penal nature of the colonies.

John Bigge was born on March 8, 1780, at Benton House, Long Benton, Northumberland, the second son of Thomas Charles Bigge, the sheriff of Northumberland, and his wife Jemima, both from wealthy though untitled gentry stock. Bigge was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1801 and his master's degree in 1804. In 1806 he was called to the bar at the Inner Temple and soon became a successful London barrister.

In 1810 Bigge took his sister to convalesce in Madeira, where he studied Spanish law and became an intimate of Sir Ralph Woodford. Woodford became governor of Trinidad in 1813 and the following year had Bigge appointed his chief justice. Woodford enlarged...