Sir William Arthur Harvey Druitt, KCB (19 April 1910 – 6 February 1973), commonly known as Sir Harvey Druitt, was a British lawyer.

Career

Born on 19 April 1910 to Arthur Druitt of

Gullane Gullane ( or ) is a town on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian on the east coast of Scotland. There has been a church in the village since the ninth century. The ruins of the Old Church of St. Andrew built in the twelft ...

, Harvey Druitt was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

."Druitt, Sir (William Arthur) Harvey"
''Who Was Who'' (online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007). Retrieved 2 November 2018. He was admitted a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

in 1935, joining the

Treasury Solicitor's department The Government Legal Department (previously called the Treasury Solicitor's Department) is the largest in-house legal organisation in the United Kingdom's Government Legal Service. The department is headed by the Treasury Solicitor. This office go ...

two years later. In 1956, he was appointed Deputy Treasury Solicitor, and then in 1964 became HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor. He was the first Treasury Solicitor to be promoted from inside the office. Druitt retired in 1971;"Sir Harvey Druitt", ''The Times'' (London), 7 February 1973, p. 18.H. S. K. and H. G. W., "Sir Harvey Druitt", ''The Times'' (London), 9 February 1973, p. 16. he had been appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the

1951 Birthday Honours The King's Birthday Honours 1951 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate the o ...

, and promoted to Knight Commander in the

1965 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1965 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lond ...

. Outside of his legal work, Druitt played rugby for Oxford against Cambridge in 1929, 1930 and 1931, with one obituarist describing him as a "rawboned Scottish forward, good with his feet before forwards forgot how to dribble, and no mean kicker".U. A. T., "Sir Harvey Druitt", ''The Times'' (London), 9 February 1973, p. 16. He played three times for Scotland in 1936 before captaining

London Scottish F.C. London Scottish Football Club is a rugby union club in England. The club is a member of both the Rugby Football Union and the Scottish Rugby Union. The club is currently playing in the RFU Championship. The club share the Athletic Ground wi ...

in 1937. In later life, he chaired the

Civil Service Sports Council Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

(1965–68) and was President of the

Civil Service Rugby Club Civil Service NI Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Maynard Sinclair Pavilion of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The club was formed in the autumn of 1922 by staff of the newly established Northern Ireland Civil Service. After some ...

, which beat each of the armed forces' teams in one season for the first time under his presidency. Druitt died on 6 February 1973, leaving a widow (Joan Holdsworth, ''née'' Swift) and one son (a daughter had predeceased him).

Likenesses

* Portrait by Walter Bird (black and white, bromide print, 1965) in the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

(reference no
NPG x167263
.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Druitt, Harvey 1910 births 1973 deaths English solicitors Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath 20th-century English lawyers Treasury Solicitors