The Hon William James Cullen (9 September 1859 – 19 June 1941) was a Scottish judge who rose to be a

Senator of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court of Session); ...

Early life

Cullen was the son of Thomas Cullen, an inspector of stamps and taxes in Edinburgh. The family lived at 6 Waterloo Place at the east end of

Princes Street Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three ...

. He was educated at Edinburgh Collegiate School and at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated with an MA in 1880 and an LLB in 1883.

Career

In 1884, Cullen joined the company of J & F Adam as a writer to the signet, a specialist form of

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 ...

. He switched to the other branch of the legal profession, and was

admitted as an advocate 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 consti ...

in 1891. He built his reputation specialising in the law of conveyancing, land and inheritance, and took silk in 1905. From 1905 to 1906, Cullen worked as an

advocate depute The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is the independent public prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by His Majesty's Lord Advocate, who under the S ...

, a junior prosecutor. In July 1906, he was appointed as Sheriff of Fife and Kinross, replacing the deceased Robert Younger KC. In April 1907 he became an unpaid Commissioner For Lunacy, and in 1909 he was raised to the bench as a

with the judicial title of Lord Cullen, filling the vacancy caused the resignation of Lord Pearson. An unflamboyant judge who disliked public speaking and avoided ceremonies where possible, Cullen was promoted in 1918 to the Inner House, where he sat in the Valuation Appeal Court. He resigned from the court in 1925, and his seat was given to David Fleming KC, who became Lord Fleming.

Personal life

In 1888, Cullen married Grace Rutherfurd Clark (1864-1943), from Manchester. They had one daughter, and two sons: Keith Douglas Cullen (born 1889), who became an advocate in 1919; and William Geoffrey Langley Cullen (1894-1915) who died whilst serving as a second lieutenant in the Royal Scots during the First World War. He died at his home 18 Grosvenor CrescentEdinburgh Post Office Directory 1910-11 in Edinburgh on 19 June 1941, aged 81. He is buried in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...

in western Edinburgh beneath a simple white cross in the south-west section (to the north of the huge Buchanan monument).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cullen, William James 1859 births 1941 deaths People educated at Edinburgh Collegiate School Lawyers from Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish solicitors Members of the Faculty of Advocates Scottish King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Scottish sheriffs Senators of the College of Justice