James Moncreiff, 1st Baron Moncreiff of Tullibole LLD (29 November 1811 – 27 April 1895) was a Scottish lawyer and politician.

Life

Moncreiff was born on 29 November 1811 to Ann, daughter of George Robertson, R. N. and Sir James Wellwood Moncreiff, 9th Baronet, a Scottish judge.''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage,'' 100th Edn, London, 1953. He was born at his parents' Edinburgh townhouse on 13 Northumberland Street. He was educated at

Edinburgh High School 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 ...

then studied law at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

and was admitted to the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a constitu ...

in 1833. He was appointed

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 ...

in 1850, and

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 ...

from 1851 to 1852, from 1852 to 1858, from 1859 to 1866 and from 1868 to 1869. He was

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 ??? ...

from 1858 to 1869. He was appointed

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 ...

from 1869 to 1888. Moncreiff was appointed a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a privy council, formal body of advisers to the British monarchy, sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises Politics of the United King ...

in 1869. He was Rector of the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

from 1868 to 1871, and held the degrees of LLD from both Edinburgh and Glasgow universities. Moncreiff was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Leith Burghs from 1851 to 1859, for

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

from 1859 to 1868 and for Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities in 1868. During a long career in parliament Moncreiff guided the passing of over 100 acts of parliament, and his name is associated with the reform of legal procedure and mercantile law. As lord advocate he was engaged as public prosecutor in important cases, notably the trials of

Madeline Smith Madeline Smith (born 2 August 1949) is an English actress. After working as a model in the late 1960s, she went on to appear in many television series and stage productions, plus comedy and horror films, in the 1970s and 1980s. She is perhaps ...

, Wielobycki, and the directors of the Western bank. In 1856, he defended the ''Scotsman'' in the libel action raised by Duncan McLaren, one of the members for the city of Edinburgh. In January 1857, Moncreiff was presented with the freedom of his native city for the part he took in regard to the Municipal Extension Act. In 1859 he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the newly formed 1st Queen's Edinburgh Rifle Volunteer Brigade (No 1 Company of which was recruited from Edinburgh advocates) – the first rifle volunteer corps in Scotland. He held the appointment until 1873 when he was appointed Honorary Colonel. In 1860, he helped pass the annuity tax bill, a subject in which, as a free churchman, he took close interest, and in the following year he carried the major bill relating to burgh and parochial schools. In 1861 he was engaged as leading counsel in the defence of Sir William Johnston, one of the directors of the Edinburgh and Glasgow bank, and in 1863-4 he was counsel in the famous

Yelverton case The Yelverton case was a famous 19th-century Irish law case, which eventually resulted in a change to the law on mixed religion marriages in Ireland. Under a Statute of King George II (19 Geo. 2. c. 13), any marriage between a Catholic (Popish) ...

. For 19 years Lord Moncreiff occupied the judicial bench, presiding over the trials in the justiciary court of Chantrelle (1878), the

City of Glasgow Bank The City of Glasgow Bank was a bank in Scotland that was largely known for its spectacular collapse in October 1878, which ruined all but 254 of its 1,200 shareholders since their liability was unlimited. History The bank was founded in 1839 wi ...

directors (1878), the dynamitards (1883), and the crofters (1886). Extrajudicially Moncreiff was occupied in many other matters. As a lecturer he was in great request, and delivered numerous orations in Edinburgh and Glasgow on subjects of literary, scientific, and political interest to the Philosophical Institution, Royal Society, Juridical Society, Scots Law Society, and other bodies. Moncreiff also published anonymously in 1871 a novel entitled ''A Visit to my Discontented Cousin'', which was reprinted, with additions, from ''

Fraser's Magazine ''Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country'' was a general and literary journal published in London from 1830 to 1882, which initially took a strong Tory line in politics. It was founded by Hugh Fraser and William Maginn in 1830 and loosely directe ...

''. He was also a frequent contributor to the ''

Edinburgh Review The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929. ''Edinburgh Review'', ...

''. In 1858 Moncreiff received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the

. From 1868 to 1871 he was rector of the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

from which he received a second honorary doctorate of LL.D. in 1879, and in 1869 he was appointed 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 ...

. On 23 May 1871 he was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

of Kilduff in the County of Kinross in the

Baronetage of the United Kingdom Baronets are a rank in the British aristocracy. The current Baronetage of the United Kingdom has replaced the earlier but existing Baronetages of England, Nova Scotia, Ireland, and Great Britain. Baronetage of England (1611–1705) James I of E ...

. On 9 January 1874 he was created Baron Moncreiff, of Tulliebole in the

County of Kinross The County of Kinross or Kinross-shire is a historic county and registration county in eastern Scotland, administered as part of Perth and Kinross since 1930. Surrounding its largest settlement and county town of Kinross, the county borders Per ...

in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the ...

; in 1878 he was appointed a royal commissioner under the Endowed Institutions (Scotland) Act, and in 1883 he succeeded his brother as 11th baronet of Moncreiff. In 1870 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 ...

his proposer was

Charles Neaves Charles Neaves, Lord Neaves FRSE (14 October 1800 – 23 December 1876) was a Scottish advocate, judge, theologian and writer. He served as Solicitor General (1852), as a judge of the Court of Session, the supreme court of Scotland (1854), ...

. He was President of the Society 1879 to 1884. In 1875, he became the inaugural President of the conservationist group the

Cockburn Association The Cockburn Association (Edinburgh's Civic Trust) is one of the world's oldest architectural conservation and urban planning monitoring organisations, founded in 1875. The Scottish judge Henry Cockburn (1779–1854) was a prominent campaigner t ...

, a position he held until 1893. In September 1888, Moncreiff resigned the position of Lord Justice Clerk, and took up the preparation of his ''Memorials''. On these he was engaged till his death on 27 April 1895.

Family

On 12 September 1834 Moncreiff married Isabella Bell (d.1881), only daughter of Robert Bell

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 ...

(1781–1861), procurator of the Church of Scotland, and Sheriff of Berwickshire and Haddingtonshire. They lived at 47 Moray Place in the west end of

. They had two daughters and five sons. Their eldest son

Henry Moncreiff, 2nd Baron Moncreiff Henry James Moncreiff, 2nd Baron Moncreiff (24 April 1840 – 3 March 1909) was a Scottish judge who succeeded to the title Baron Moncreiff. Life Moncreiff was born in Edinburgh, the elder son of James Moncreiff, 1st Baron Moncreiff and h ...

sat from 1888 under the title of Lord Wellwood, as a Lord of Session.

References

;Attribution

External links

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Portrait and family details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moncreiff, James, Baron Moncreiff of Tulliebole 1811 births 1895 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Lord Advocates Deans of the Faculty of Advocates Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Scottish Liberal Party MPs Presidents of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Rectors of the University of Edinburgh Solicitors General for Scotland UK MPs 1847–1852 UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 UK MPs 1865–1868 UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs who were granted peerages Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities Moncreiff Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh constituencies Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria