David Pinkerton Fleming's grave, Dean Cemetery

David Pinkerton Fleming, Lord Fleming (11 February 1877 – 20 October 1944) was a Scottish politician and judge, rising to be Senator of the College of Justice.

Life

He was born in

Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

near

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

on 11 February 1877, the son of John Fleming

Writer to the Signet The Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. Writers to the Signet originally had special privileges in relation to the drawing up of document ...

and his wife, Isabella Wark Pinkerton. He was educated at Glasgow High School, 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

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 , ...

, and graduated MA in 1895, LLB in 1896. He was called to the

Scottish Bar 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 1902. He was on active service with the Cameronians (he had originally been commissioned into the volunteer battalion of the

Highland Light Infantry The Highland Light Infantry (HLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881. It took part in the First and Second World Wars, until it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1959 to form the Royal Highland Fusi ...

) during World War I, for which he was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

and the Belgian

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

. He

took silk In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in October 1921. He served as

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 ...

from 1922 to 1923 and from 1924 to 1926, and was Unionist

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

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders P ...

from 1924 to 1926. He was appointed to the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh ...

bench on 19 December 1925, with the judicial title Lord Fleming. He replaced Lord Cullen, who had retired. He was appointed an Honorary Bencher of

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1940. He chaired the 18-man committee that produced the Fleming Report in 1944. It defined a

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

as a member of the

Governing Bodies Association The Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools (AGBIS) is the supporting and advisory organisation for governing bodies of independent schools in the UK, and is a member of the Independent Schools Council. History The Association of Go ...

or the

Headmasters' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the Unite ...

. Based on the recommendations of this report, the

Education Act 1944 The Education Act 1944 (7 and 8 Geo 6 c. 31) made major changes in the provision and governance of secondary schools in England and Wales. It is also known as the "Butler Act" after the President of the Board of Education, R. A. Butler. Historians ...

offered a new status to endowed

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

s receiving a grant from central government. The

direct grant grammar school A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted ...

would receive partial state funding in return for taking between 25% and 50% of its pupils from state primary schools. Members of the HMC accounted for 58 of the 178 direct grant schools, of which the vast majority were day schools. On average, nearly half of their places were funded by the state. A few local students were admitted to public schools, but that experiment petered out.

Death

He died at home, 19 Drumsheugh Gardens in Edinburgh's West End (now demolished) and is buried with his wife in the south-west corner of the north section 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 ...

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 ...

, next to

Arthur Henry Havens Sinclair Arthur Henry Havens Sinclair Doctor of Medicine, MD FRSE Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, FRCSEd Legum Doctor, LLD (20 February 1868 – 30 Jun 1962) was a 20th-century Scottish ophthalmologist. He was a pioneer of quantitative Visua ...

Family

He married Beatrice Joan Swan (1880-1965) in

North Berwick North Berwick (; gd, Bearaig a Tuath) is a seaside town A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on th ...

on 4 September 1913.http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/FLEMING/2008-02/1202398694

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, David 1877 births 1944 deaths People educated at the High School of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Fleming Members of the Faculty of Advocates Solicitors General for Scotland UK MPs 1924–1929 Cameronians officers Highland Light Infantry officers British Army personnel of World War I Recipients of the Military Cross Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium) Unionist Party (Scotland) MPs People from Rutherglen Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh