John Hope PC

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(1794–1858) was a Scottish judge and landowner.

Life

He was the eldest son of Charles Hope,

Lord President of the Court of Session The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. The L ...

, and Lady Charlotte Hope, and was born on 26 May 1794. His younger sister Louisa Hope was a promoter of household science education. He received his early education at the

High School of Edinburgh The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves 1,200 pupils drawn from four feeder primar ...

. He was admitted an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

on 23 November 1810. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

in 1818, his proposers being

Thomas Charles Hope Thomas Charles Hope (21 July 1766 – 13 June 1844) was a British physician, chemist and lecturer. He proved the existence of the element strontium, and gave his name to Hope's Experiment, which shows that water reaches its maximum density at ...

, Thomas Allan and Alexander Gillespie. When Rae became

Lord Advocate , body = , insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg , insigniasize = 110px , image = File:Official Portrait of Dorothy Bain QC.png , incumbent = Dorothy Bain KC , incumbentsince = 22 June 2021 , appointer = Monarch on the advice ...

, he was appointed one of his deputes. On 25 June 1822, James Abercromby unsuccessfully moved in the House of Commons for the appointment of a committee of inquiry into the conduct of the Lord Advocate and the other law officers of the crown in Scotland in relation to the public press. Hope sent Abercromby a letter of protest, and was summoned to attend the house. He was heard at the bar in his own defence on 17 July following (Parl. Debates, new ser. vii. 1668- 1673), but though it was unanimously agreed that he had been guilty of a breach of the privileges of the house, no further proceedings were taken in the matter. On the death of James Wedderburn in November of the same year, Hope was appointed by

Lord Liverpool Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He held many important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secret ...

Solicitor General for Scotland , body = , insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg , insigniasize = 110px , image = File:Official Portrait of Ruth Charteris QC.png , incumbent = Ruth Charteris KC , incumbentsince = 22 June 2021 , department = Crown Office and ...

, a post which he held until the formation of Lord Grey's ministry in 1830, when he was succeeded by Henry Cockburn. On 17 December 1830 Hope was elected

dean of the Faculty of Advocates The Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, also known as the Dean of Faculty, is the head of the Faculty of Advocates, the independent body for advocates in Scotland. The Dean is elected by the whole membership. List of deans of Faculty * 1582 to ??? ...

in the place of

Francis Jeffrey Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (23 October 1773 – 26 January 1850) was a Scottish judge and literary critic. Life He was born at 7 Charles Street near Potterow in south Edinburgh, the son of George Jeffrey, a clerk in the Court of Session ...

, in whose favour Hope had generously waived his claims to the chair in the previous year. In 1841 he succeeded David Boyle as

Lord Justice Clerk The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session. Originally ''clericus justiciarie'' or Clerk to the Court of Justiciary, the counterpart in the criminal courts of the Lord ...

, taking his seat on the bench as president of the second division of the court of session on 16 November 1841, and on 17 April 1844 was sworn a member of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. Hope presided over the second division of the civil court, as well as at nearly all trials of importance which took place in the

High Court of Justiciary The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The High Court is both a trial court and a court of appeal. As a trial court, the High Court sits on circuit at Parliament House or in the adjacent former Sheriff Cou ...

during his seventeen years of office. On 22 March 1847 Lord Hope sentenced Angus Davidson, Daniel Sutherland and John Main to be deported to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

for seven years for their parts in the food riots in

Burghead Burghead ( sco, Burgheid or ''The Broch'', gd, Am Broch) is a small town in Moray, Scotland, about north-west of Elgin. The town is mainly built on a peninsula that projects north-westward into the Moray Firth, surrounding it by water on thre ...

in January of that year. On 31 May he sentenced shoemaker James Nicholson to transportation for ten years for his part in the unrest in

Pulteneytown Wick ( gd, Inbhir Ùige (IPA: �inivɪɾʲˈuːkʲə, sco, Week) is a town and royal burgh in Caithness, in the far north of Scotland. The town straddles the River Wick and extends along both sides of Wick Bay. "Wick Locality" had a population of ...

on 24 February. These harsh sentences attracted widespread criticism and were subsequently commuted to much shorter terms of imprisonment by the Home Secretary,

Sir George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Gov ...

Lord Hope died at home, 20 Moray Place, Edinburgh, on 14 June 1858. from a sudden attack of paralysis, and was buried at

Ormiston Ormiston is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, near Tranent, Humbie, Pencaitland and Cranston, located on the north bank of the River Tyne at an elevation of about . The village was the first planned village in Scotland, founded in 1735 ...

, near

Tranent Tranent is a town in East Lothian (formerly Haddingtonshire), in the south-east of Scotland. The town lies 6 miles from the boundary of Edinburgh, and 9.1 miles from the city centre. It lies beside the A1 road, the A1 runs through the parish ...

. In comparing the English with the Scottish bar, Cockburn makes the following allusion to Hope's style of advocacy at the bar: "I heard no voice strained, and did not see a drop of sweat at the bar in these eight days. Our high-pressure dean screams and gesticulates and perspires more in any forenoon than the whole bar of England (I say nothing of Ireland) in a reign" (Memorials of his Time,i.114).

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

had a very high opinion of him (Lockhart, Life of Scott, 1845, p. 587).

Family

In August 1825 he married Jessie Scott Irving, daughter of Thomas Irving of

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

, by whom he had several children. His widow survived him, and died in Royal Terrace, Edinburgh, on 26 January 1872, aged 79. His only daughter, Charlotte, died in Malta, 3 November 1853, aged 24. She was buried in Floriana and her grave is still visible at the Msida Bastion Historic Garden.Charlotte Hope
''findagrave''

Artistic recognition

There was a portrait of him by

Colvin Smith Colvin Smith RSA (1795 – 21 July 1875) was a Scottish portraitist. Life Smith was born at Brechin, in Angus, the son of John Smith, a merchant, and his wife, Cecilia Gillies. He studied art in London at the Royal Academy Schools and worked ...

, R.S.A., made when he was Dean of Faculty, in the

National Gallery of Scotland The Scottish National Gallery (formerly the National Gallery of Scotland) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by Wi ...

(Catalogue No. 67). There were also portraits of Hope in the Parliament House and in the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. The gallery holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Co ...

References

;Attribution

External links

Portrait of John Hope
by Colvin Smith in the

National Galleries of Scotland National Galleries of Scotland ( gd, Gailearaidhean Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the National Collections o ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hope, John 1794 births 1858 deaths Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Solicitors General for Scotland Senators of the College of Justice People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Deans of the Faculty of Advocates

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

Lords Justice Clerk 19th-century Scottish judges Lawyers from Edinburgh