William Grant, Lord Grant
David Anderson | |
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Personal details | |
Born | 19 June 1909 Moray Place, Edinburgh |
Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
Profession | Advocate |
William Grant, Lord Grant,
A classical scholar and talented
He left
While still in office, Grant died in a traffic collision in the Scottish Highlands, with alcohol in his blood. The crash left two other men dead and a young family seriously injured.[3]
Early life and family
Grant was born on 19 June 1909 in
Edward had been a solicitor for the Caledonian Railway in Glasgow, before returning to Dufftown to work for the family's Balvenie distillery. He died in September 1911, aged 34, when William was two years old.[5]
Janet Roberts, a granddaughter of the distillery founder and therefore presumably Grant's first cousin, was Scotland's oldest person when she died in 2012 aged 110.[7][8]
Education and Second World War
Schooled at
He was
Career
Returning to the bar after demobilisation in 1945, Grant rebuilt his legal practice, focusing on
He lectured in law at the University of Edinburgh and from 1950 to 1954 he chaired the
Politics and law officer
In the early 1950s, Grant was twice an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate for the
Still without a
He took office as Milligan's deputy in the last months of
Grant and Milligan were retained in office both in the
At the general election in October 1959, Grant was re-elected in Glasgow Woodside.[22] When Milligan was appointed as a judge in 1960, Grant was promoted to fill the vacancy as Lord Advocate.[23]
Lord Advocate
His successor as Solicitor General,
As Lord Advocate, Grant held ultimate authority to decide whether any prosecution should proceed. One of the cases which he declined to bring was a charge of obscenity against the publishers of Lady Chatterley's Lover, following the unsuccessful prosecution in England. In November 1960, Grant announced in the Commons that the book was "tedious" and that he would not prosecute.[24] The Labour MP Emrys Hughes congratulated Grant for his "extreme common sense",[24] and a subsequent High Court challenge to his decision failed.[25]
However, Grant was no liberal. In Winnipeg in 1961, he opposed recent British moves to restrict capital punishment, describing them as mistaken and a threat to public safety.[26]
In 1962, Grant led the defence in the Scottish courts of a claim for about £60 million (£1.36 billion in 2024
Lord Justice Clerk
After the death in April 1962 of the Lord Justice Clerk, George Thomson, it was expected that the government would follow the usual practice of appointing the Lord Advocate to the judicial vacancy.[31] The decision was in fact usually made by the Lord Advocate, who traditionally appointed himself,[32] with a substantial rise in salary.[10][33] (In 1967, then Lord Advocate Gordon Stott was elevated to the judiciary, and later joked "I appointed myself, and a jolly good judge I turned out to be").[34]
However, after the office had been vacant for more than three months, the Labour MP James Hoy raised the issue at Prime Minister's Questions on 31 July, suggesting that the delay was due to government fears of losing a by-election.[35] (At the 1959 election, Grant had a majority of only 2,084 in his Woodside constituency, down from 4,303 in 1955.[31][36] Woodside was by then considered a marginal seat.[37]).
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan declined a challenge from opposition leader Hugh Gaitskell to explain the reasons for the delay, but promised that a new Justice Clerk would be in place before the Scottish courts resumed on 2 October.[35][31] On 25 September, a week before the courts opened, Grant was raised to the bench with the judicial title Lord Grant.[38] The Glasgow Woodside by-election was held on 22 November. As expected,[39] it was won by the Labour candidate Neil Carmichael.[40]
As a judge, Grant gravitated towards criminal cases. He also undertook a lot of the court's administrative duties.[2]
Grant Committee
In 1963, the Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Noble appointed Grant as chairman of a committee of inquiry into Scotland's sheriff courts.[41] The committee included David Brand QC, several solicitors, and others.[41]
The Committee on the Sheriff Court, known as the Grant Committee,
The report led to the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971.[42]
Other interests
Grant was the first chairman of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society as well as a director of Scottish Opera.[44]
Personal life
In 1934, Grant became engaged to Margaret Katharine Milne,[45] a native of Aberdeen.[1] They married in 1936,[2] and lived in Moray Place in the New Town of Edinburgh.[2]
The couple had two sons and a daughter,[46][10] and a reputation for generous hospitality.[2]
Death
Lord Grant died on 19 November 1972 as a result of a road accident near Lynchat, about 3 miles north of Kingussie in Inverness-shire.[4] He was 63 years old.
Driving home alone from Brora[4] in Sutherland, his BMW[3] had overtaken a car transporter on a double bend, and collided with a car traveling in the opposite direction, carrying a young family home to Alness.[3][47] The crash killed the driver of the other car, and seriously injured his wife and their three children, aged between three and seven years.[4][48] All four survivors were taken to hospital in Inverness.[4] A male passenger in their car was killed along with the driver.[3]
The fatal accident inquiry in May 1973 heard that blood tests showed Lord Grant to have consumed the equivalent of two pints of beer or two large whiskies.[3] No alcohol was found in the blood of the other driver.[3]
The injured widow testified that her husband had been driving at under 25 miles per hour (40 km/h).[3] The Inverness Constabulary estimated the impact speed to have been between 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) and 140 miles per hour (230 km/h).[3]
Works
- The Sheriff Court: Report by the Committee appointed by the Secretary of State (Cmnd.3248). Edinburgh: H.M.S.O. 1967.
References
- ^ Aberdeen Evening Express. 11 November 1955. p. 4. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Lord Grant". The Times. No. 58637. London, England. 21 November 1972. p. 17. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- ^ Glasgow Herald. p. 11. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via Google News.
- ^ Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via Google News.
- ^ a b "Obituary: Mr Edward Grant, Dufftown". Aberdeen Journal. 9 September 1911. p. 7. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ a b "Called to Scottish Bar". Aberdeen Journal. 27 October 1934. p. 8. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Oldest woman in Scotland Janet Roberts dies, aged 110". BBC News. 11 April 2012. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
- ^ "Obituary: Janet Roberts, Scotland's oldest woman and matriarch of the Grant-Gordon whisky dynasty". The Scotsman. 12 April 2012. Archived from the original on 22 April 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
- ^ a b c d "New Solicitor-General For Scotland". The Times. No. 53136. London, England. 11 January 1955. p. 8. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- ^ Glasgow Herald. 26 September 1962. p. 16. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via Google News.
- ^ "No. 16879". The Edinburgh Gazette. 7 August 1951. p. 405.
- ^ a b "East Edinburgh Held By Labour". The Times. No. 52902. London, England. 9 April 1954. p. 8. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- ^ "No. 17251". The Edinburgh Gazette. 14 January 1955. p. 19.
- Glasgow Herald. 11 January 1955. p. 7. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via Google News.
- ^ Glasgow Herald. 26 May 1955. p. 7. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via Google News.
- ^ "No. 17294". The Edinburgh Gazette. 3 June 1955. p. 342.
- ^ "UK General Election results 1951, part 9". Richard Kimber's political science resources. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
- ^ "UK General Election results 1955, part 9". Richard Kimber's political science resources. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
- Dundee Courier. 28 May 1955. p. 6. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
Altered division
- ^ "3 Ministers Dropped From Government". The Times. No. 53741. London, England. 17 January 1957. p. 8. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via The Times Digital Archive.
Solicitor General for Scotland: Mr William Grant (unchanged)
- ^ "No. 41404". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1958. p. 3511.
- ^ "No. 17760". The Edinburgh Gazette. 16 October 1959. p. 596.
- ^ "No. 17812". The Edinburgh Gazette. 12 April 1960. p. 221.
- ^ a b "Lady Chatterley's Lover". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 630. House of Commons. 22 November 1960. col. 960–962.
- ^ "Private Person Fails In Move To Prosecute". The Times. No. 54997. London, England. 4 February 1961. p. 3. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- Glasgow Herald. 29 August 1961. p. 1. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
- ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ a b "£60M. Claim By Oil Company's Subsidiaries". The Times. No. 55446. London, England. 18 July 1962. p. 15. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via The Times Digital Archive.
Lord Justice Clerk, Mr. Grant will have a salary of £7,800, compared with £5,000 as Lord Advocate
- ^ )
- ISBN 1-84113-495-3.
- ^ Glasgow Herald. 1 August 1962. p. 1. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via Google News.
- ^ McKain, Bruce (17 April 1999). "Lord Stott". The Herald. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
- ^ "Mr. W. Grant To Be Lord Justice Clerk". The Times. No. 55506. London, England. 16 September 1962. p. 12. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via The Times Digital Archive.
Lord Justice Clerk, Mr. Grant will have a salary of £7,800, compared with £5,000 as Lord Advocate
- )
- ^ a b "Lord Justice Clerk for Scotland". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 31 July 1962. col. 403–404.
- ^ "General Election: First Results". The Times. No. 54587. London, England. 9 October 1959. p. 7. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via The Times Digital Archive.
Electorate: 44,746. 1955: 48,532. C majority: 2,094. 1955: C maj 4,303
- Glasgow Herald. 26 September 1962. p. 16. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via Google News.
- ^ "No. 18072". The Edinburgh Gazette. 25 September 1962. p. 583.
- ^ "Woodside Election Writ Today". The Times. No. 55538. London, England. 2 November 1962. p. 17. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- ^ "Labour Capture Two Conservative Seats". The Times. No. 55556. London, England. 23 November 1962. p. 12. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- ^ Glasgow Herald. 1 August 1963. p. 1. Retrieved 10 January 2016 – via Google News.
- ^ a b "Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 320. House of Commons. 22 June 1971. col. 833–846.
- Glasgow Herald. 27 July 1967. p. 11. Retrieved 10 January 2016 – via Google News.
- ISBN 0-9512-6502-4.
- Dundee Courier. 27 October 1934. p. 6. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- Dundee Courier. 11 January 1955. p. 3. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Formal verdict returned on Lord Justice Clerk". The Times. No. 58794. London, England. 29 May 1973. p. 3. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- ^ "News in brief: Lord Grant dies in crash". The Times. No. 58636. London, England. 20 November 1972. p. 4. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via The Times Digital Archive.