William Grant, Lord Grant
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William Grant, Lord Grant, (19 June 1909 – 19 November 1972) was a Scottish
advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...
, a Unionist politician, and a judge. Born to the Grant's distillery family who created Glenfiddich whisky, he was one of Scotland's
Great Officers of State Government in medieval monarchies generally comprised the king's companions, later becoming the royal household, from which the officers of state arose. These officers initially had household and governmental duties. Later some of these offic ...
for the last 12 years of his life. A classical scholar and talented
orator An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14 ...
who nonetheless lost his first two election campaigns, Grant sat in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
from 1955 to 1962. Throughout that period he was a Law Officer: first Solicitor General for Scotland, then Lord Advocate. He left
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
in 1962 to become Lord Justice Clerk, the second most senior judge in Scotland. His work included chairing the eponymous Grant Committee, a major inquiry into the working of Scotland's
sheriff courts A sheriff court () is the principal local civil law (common law), civil and criminal law, criminal courts of Scotland, court in Scotland, with exclusive jurisdiction over all civil cases with a monetary value up to , and with the jurisdiction ...
. While still in office, Grant died in a
traffic collision A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. Tr ...
in the
Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...
, with alcohol in his blood. The crash left two other men dead and a young family seriously injured.


Early life and family

Grant was born on 19 June 1909 in
Dufftown Dufftown ( ) is a burgh in Moray, Scotland. While the town is part of the historic Mortlach parish, the town was established and laid out in the early 19th century as part of a planned new town settlement. The town has several listed 19th centur ...
, Banff, the son of Edward Grant. His mother was a former Miss Kennedy, who Edward had married in 1908.His grandfather William Grant (1839–1923) was the founder of the distillers William Grant & Sons, producers of Glenfiddich whisky. Edward had been a solicitor for the Caledonian Railway in
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, 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. 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.


Education and Second World War

Schooled at Fettes College in
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, Grant won a scholarship in
classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
to
Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is Colleges of the University of Oxford, 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 for ...
, where he graduated with a first-class degree. He then studied law at the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
, graduating with an LLB with distinction. He was admitted as an advocate on 2 November 1934. As an officer of the Territorial Army, he was mobilised at the outset of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, and served in the
Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
, reaching the rank of
major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...
. In 1943 or 1944 he became Deputy Assistant Adjutant General at the
War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...
.


Career

Returning to the bar after demobilisation in 1945, Grant rebuilt his legal practice, focusing on trusts,
will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...
s,
inheritance Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...
and
company law Corporate law (also known as company law or enterprise law) is the body of law governing the rights, relations, and conduct of persons, companies, organizations and businesses. The term refers to the legal practice of law relating to corp ...
. In 1949 he became standing junior counsel to the Ministry of Pensions in Scotland. With a reputation for fast work and effective presentation, he took silk in 1951. He lectured in law at the University of Edinburgh and from 1950 to 1954 he chaired the National Health Service Tribunal for Scotland. In the same period, he was also a senior advocate depute.


Politics and law officer

In the early 1950s, Grant was twice an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate for the Labour-held constituency of
Edinburgh East Edinburgh East was a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It existed ...
. At the 1951 general election, aided by the lack of a
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
candidate, he reduced the majority of the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) and current Lord Advocate, John Wheatley, by nearly half. However at the by-election in April 1954 after Wheatley became a judge, Labour increased its majority to over 5,000, reversing a swing to the government in the previous six by-elections that year. Still without a
parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
seat, Grant was appointed in January 1955 as Solicitor General for Scotland. He succeeded William Rankine Milligan who had been promoted to Lord Advocate to replace James Latham Clyde, who had been raised to the bench as a Senator of the College of Justice in the place of Lord Cooper. He took office as Milligan's deputy in the last months of Winston Churchill's premiership. Grant was later selected as the Unionists' prospective parliamentary candidate for the Unionist-held seat of Glasgow Woodside. At the general election in May 1955, Grant's oratory drew over a thousand people to his eve-of-poll rally on 25 May in Hillhead, with hundreds more turned away. Two girls fainted in the excitement, which the '' Glasgow Herald'' newspaper suggested set "a minor record for 1955 political meetings". He held the seat for the Unionists, with an increased majority, assisted by favourable boundary changes. Grant and Milligan were retained in office both in the 1955–57 government of Churchill's successor,
Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achi ...
, and in the post-1957 government of
Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nickn ...
. Grant became a
privy counsellor The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are current or former ...
in the Queens's 1958 Birthday Honours. At the general election in October 1959, Grant was re-elected in Glasgow Woodside. When Milligan was appointed as a judge in 1960, Grant was promoted to fill the vacancy as Lord Advocate.


Lord Advocate

His successor as Solicitor General, David Anderson, was not an MP. This left Grant as the government's only spokesperson in the Commons on Scottish legal matters. 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. The Labour MP Emrys Hughes congratulated Grant for his "extreme common sense", and a subsequent High Court challenge to his decision failed. However, Grant was no liberal. In
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in 1961, he opposed recent British moves to restrict capital punishment, describing them as mistaken and a threat to public safety. In 1962, Grant led the defence in the Scottish courts of a claim for about £60 million (£ in ) in damages by the
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
-based Burmah Oil Company against the
government of the United Kingdom His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
. During the
Japanese conquest of Burma The Japanese invasion of Burma was a series of battles fought in the British colony of Burma (present-day Myanmar) as part of the Pacific Theater of World War II. The initial invasion in 1942 resulted in the capture of Rangoon and the retre ...
in 1941 and 1942, the company's assets in
Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...
had been destroyed under a "
scorched earth A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy of destroying everything that allows an enemy military force to be able to fight a war, including the deprivation and destruction of water, food, humans, animals, plants and any kind of tools and i ...
" policy by retreating British forces. Having been advised in the late 1940s to sue the government of Burma, the company's company's 12 years of litigation had failed to establish liability against Burma. The trial judge, Lord Kilbrandon, ruled in favour of the oil company. His judgment was overturned by the First Division of the
Inner House The Inner House is the senior part of the Court of Session, the supreme civil court in Scotland; the Outer House forms the junior part of the Court of Session. It is a court of appeal and a court of first instance. The chief justice is th ...
of the
Court of Session The Court of Session is the highest national court of Scotland in relation to Civil law (common law), civil cases. The court was established in 1532 to take on the judicial functions of the royal council. Its jurisdiction overlapped with othe ...
, which was in turn overruled by the law lords in '' Burmah Oil Co Ltd v Lord Advocate''. Burmah Oil's legal victory was retrospectively nullified by the
War Damage Act 1965 The War Damage Act 1965 (c. 18) is an act of United Kingdom Parliament which exempts the Crown from liability in respect of damage to, or destruction of, property caused by acts lawfully done by the Crown during, or in contemplation of the outbr ...
.


Lord Justice Clerk

Following 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. The decision was in fact usually made by the Lord Advocate, who traditionally appointed himself, with a substantial rise in salary. (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"). 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 Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention (political custom), constitutional convention in the United Kingd ...
on 31 July, suggesting that the delay was due to government fears of losing a by-election. (At the 1959 election, Grant had a majority of only 2,084 in his Woodside constituency, down from 4,303 in 1955. Woodside was by then considered a
marginal seat A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. T ...
.). Prime Minister Harold Macmillan declined a challenge from opposition leader
Hugh Gaitskell Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (9 April 1906 – 18 January 1963) was a British politician who was Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition from 1955 until ...
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. On 25 September, a week before the courts opened, Grant was raised to the bench with the judicial title Lord Grant. The Glasgow Woodside by-election was held on 22 November. As expected, it was won by the Labour candidate Neil Carmichael. As a judge, Grant gravitated towards criminal cases. He also undertook a lot of the court's administrative duties.


Grant Committee

In 1963, the
Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland (; ), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Scotland Office. The incum ...
Michael Noble appointed Grant as chairman of a committee of inquiry into Scotland's
sheriff court A sheriff court () is the principal local civil and criminal court in Scotland, with exclusive jurisdiction over all civil cases with a monetary value up to , and with the jurisdiction to hear any criminal case except treason, murder, and ra ...
s. The committee included David Brand QC, several solicitors, and others. The Committee on the Sheriff Court, known as the Grant Committee, reported in July 1967, recommending a major reorganisation of the courts to end the long delays in criminal cases. Its recommendations included an increase in the number of full-time sheriffs, the abolition of juries in
civil case A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. T ...
s in the sheriff courts, increasing the maximum sentence imposed by sheriffs from two years to three, and broadening the recruitment base for sheriffs to include
solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer 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 enabled to p ...
s and academic lawyers. The report led to the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971.


Other interests

Grant was the first chairman of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society as well as a director of Scottish Opera.


Personal life

In 1934, Grant became engaged to Margaret Katharine Milne, a native of
Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
. They married in 1936, and lived in Moray Place in the
New Town New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...
of Edinburgh. The couple had two sons and a daughter, and a reputation for generous hospitality.


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. He was 63 years old. Driving home alone from
Brora Brora ( ; ) is a village in the east of Sutherland, in the Highland (council area), Highland area of Scotland. Origin of the name The name ''Brora'' is derived from Old Norse and means "river with a bridge". History Brora is a small industri ...
in Sutherland, his
BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...
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. The crash killed the driver of the other car, and seriously injured his wife and their three children, aged between three and seven years. All four survivors were taken to hospital in
Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...
. A male passenger in their car was killed along with the driver. 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. No alcohol was found in the blood of the other driver. The injured widow testified that her husband had been driving at under . The Inverness Constabulary estimated the impact speed to have been between and .


Works

*


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, William 1909 births 1972 deaths People educated at Fettes College Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Members of the Faculty of Advocates British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery officers Scottish soldiers Academics of the University of Edinburgh Scottish King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Unionist Party (Scotland) MPs Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Glasgow constituencies UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 Solicitors general for Scotland Lord advocates Senators of the College of Justice Lords Justice Clerk Road incident deaths in Scotland Fatal accident inquiries William Grant & Sons people Ministers in the third Churchill government, 1951–1955 Ministers in the Eden government, 1955–1957 Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964