William Tidd was an English lawyer and author of books on the law. He is most known for his book The Practice of the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas, in Personal Actions, and Ejectment published in London between 1790 and 1794, and familiarly known as "Tidd's Practice". The book became a standard text on English law, and was even referred to admiringly by Uriah Heep in Dickens' David Copperfield (chapter 16).
But, seeing a light in the little round office, and immediately feeling myself attracted towards Uriah Heep, who had a sort of fascination for me, I went in there instead. I found Uriah reading a great fat book, with such demonstrative attention, that his lank forefinger followed up every line as he read, and made clammy tracks along the page (or so I fully believed) like a snail.
'You are working late tonight, Uriah,' says I.
'Yes, Master Copperfield,' says Uriah.
As I was getting on the stool opposite, to talk to him more conveniently, I observed that he had not such a thing as a smile about him, and that he could only widen his mouth and make two hard creases down his cheeks, one on each side, to stand for one.
'I am not doing office-work, Master Copperfield,' said Uriah.
'What work, then?' I asked.
'I am improving my legal knowledge, Master Copperfield,' said Uriah. 'I am going through Tidd's Practice. Oh, what a writer Mr. Tidd is, Master Copperfield!'
In 1791 Tidd lived in the "Cellar Chamber Left" of 7 King's Bench Walk, a London address famous for its long history of being a residence of lawyers; he is listed as a barrister at Inner Temple in England in 1813.
Biography of Joseph Aplin